Prince William turned up at a West Midlands school to meet with a student who had penned a personal letter to him about mental health.
He visited St Michael’s Church of England High School in Rowley Regis to learn about the award-winning student-led initiatives available to pupils to support their mental wellbeing after 12-year-old student Freddie Hadley invited him to discuss the issue.
The schoolboy wrote to the Prince of Wales urging him to support the school’s Matrix Project which was set up to raise awareness of the mental health of boys.
He said its campaign called Am I Manly Enough “aims to tackle the stigma that ‘girls cry and boys get mad’.”
“The group consists of boys aged 11-14 who meet weekly to develop ideas and projects,” he wrote to the prince.
“We are contacting you in the hope that you will support our campaign.”
He added: “Through our work, we discovered that suicide is the biggest killer in young males and this won’t change until people start the conversation.”
The young student sent the letter to the royal last year, inviting him “as a VIP” to a school event, organised as part of World Health Day on 10 October.
William was unable to visit at the time, but responded to the letter with a message on X, commending Freddie and the school on their work to tackle mental health challenges faced by pupils.
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On Thursday The prince met representatives of Student Voice and learned about the various initiatives set up at the school to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
He also joined a session of the Matrix Project with Freddie and other pupils.
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The importance of treating mental health with the same emphasis as physical health is a cornerstone of William and Kate‘s charity work.
The past few months have been an eventful period for the Royal Family due to Kate and the King‘s cancer diagnoses.
The Princess of Wales announced in March that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy.
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Prince William’s latest official royal engagement comes after he resumed royal duties last week in his first public engagement since his wife’s cancer announcement.
The prince visited a food distribution charity, with footage showing him chopping ingredients to make a chilli con carne, and later loading and unloading the prepared meals.
