Prince William has
broken his silence during the Christmas holidays following the death of the
celebrated conservationist Richard Leakey.
Sharing
via the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official Twitter account, he wrote:
“I was very sad to hear of Richard Leakey’s death. He was an inspirational
& courageous conservationist and I was privileged to meet him. He
transformed the Kenyan Wildlife Service & valiantly spearheaded efforts to
stop elephant poaching. Conservation
has lost a true visionary. W.”
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| Richard sadly passed away aged 77 |
Richard passed away aged 77 on Sunday, and
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was among those to pay tribute, saying:
“Besides his distinguished career in the public service, Dr. Leakey is
celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya’s vibrant civil society where he
founded and successfully ran a number of institutions” and “served our country with
distinction”.
It has
been a sad time for the royal family, as the Queen has been in mourning
following the loss of her close friend and lady-in-waiting Lady Farnham, who
died at the age of 90 in late December 2021.
Lady
Farnham was the monarch’s Lady of the Bedchamber since 1987 and long-time
support and confidante for the Queen, even accompanying her to a Diamond
Jubilee service of thanksgiving in 2012 after the Duke of Edinburgh was
hospitalized and could not attend. The news follows the loss of another of Her
Majesty’s closest friends, the Duchess of Grafton, who died aged 101 on 3
December.
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| The Queen paid tribute to her husband during her Christmas speech |
Her
Majesty also lost her husband, Prince Philip, in April 2021, and paid a loving
tribute to him during her traditional Christmas Day speech. She said: “His
sense of service, intellectual curiosity, and capacity to squeeze the fun out of any
situation – were all irrepressible. That
mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set
eyes on him. But life, of course, consists of final partings as
well as first meetings; and as much as I and my family miss him, I know he
would want us to enjoy Christmas.”
