Prince William eulogises his late mother Princes Diana as he supports cyber-bullying victims

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, honoured his late mother as he shocked teenage ambassadors from The Diana Award by making a surprise appearance on a video call.

 The Duke honoured Princess Diana's legacy as he supported teenagers who have experienced online bullying during the  Covid-19 crisis.

Showing his admiration for their work in Anti-Bullying Week, Prince William surprised teenage ambassadors from The Diana Award, the only charity bearing her name, with a video call.

The charity has trained around 40,000 young people as anti-bullying ambassadors working to help victims in schools and communities.  It was created in 1997 as part of Britain’s official response to Diana’s death two years earlier.

In the week that a media group was forced to set up an independent inquiry into allegations that reporter Martin Bashir abused his late mother’s vulnerability to persuade her to sit for an infamous 1995 Panorama interview, William paid tribute to her late mother.

Despite lockdown measures for much of this year, The Diana Award has reported that 46 percent of young people surveyed have been bullied in the past 12 months.

Rose Agnew, 14, from Warwick, Jude Bedford, 16, from Cambridge, Paige Keen, 14, from Norwich, and Isabel Broderick, 15, from the West Midlands, shared their experiences with him. 

Rose Agnew, 14, from Warwick, Jude Bedford, 16, from Cambridge, Paige Keen, 14, from Norwich, and Isabel Broderick, 15, from the West Midlands, shared their experiences with him. 

The charity’s anti-bullying ambassadors revealed abuse has just increasingly transferred online as schools were closed for much of the year because of coronavirus.

Prince William said: 'It’s just horrible and it’s very moving to hear you guys talk about how you want to help others and make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone else.'

The second in line to the throne added: 'That is the most important thing, that you realise this isn’t going to beat you and you want to make sure that others are not going to go through the same torment that you guys have gone through.'

'But I’m just so sorry that you’ve experienced these circumstances and these bullies. It’s heartbreaking to hear how much of an impact it’s had on your schooling, your life, and things like that.'

Prince William told them: 'Clearly, you guys have all taken this on and beaten it, which is fantastic. Because it can - and, sadly it does - get on top of too many people and some of them can’t come through it.'