Kate Middleton visited Clapham Common in London this weekend to pay tribute to Sarah Everard, who went missing while walking home on March 3 and was later found dead.
- Kate Middleton visited London's Clapham Common this weekend, where a memorial was taking place for Sarah Everard.
- Sarah Everard was a 33-year year old woman who went missing on March 3 while walking home from a friend's house and was later found dead.
- In other royal news (opens in new tab), the Duchess of Cambridge has announced a plan to help those suffering with their mental health (opens in new tab) during the pandemic.
The Duchess of Cambridge laid a bunch of daffodils she reportedly picked from her own garden in Kensington Palace, as she stood with bystanders at the memorial.
Kate attended the site at Clapham Common without Prince William, her children or obvious minders and stayed there for around five minutes according to reports. She read the cards and looked at the other flowers placed there in memory of 33-year-old Sarah Everard.
The marketing executive went missing in early March, walking home to Brixton from a friend's house in Clapham - less than 50 minutes walk away.
A royal source told The Mirror (opens in new tab), "The Duchess decided to make a private visit after being horrified by Sarah's tragic murder.
"She remembers what it is like to walk alone as a young woman in London and elsewhere and like so many other women, has been thinking deeply about her experiences walking alone at night.
"It was important for her to make the visit and pay her personal respects to Sarah and to Sarah's family.
"The Duchess remembers what it was like living in London and being a woman walking around the streets of the capital before she married William.
“She wanted to do it privately and felt it was the right thing to do."
Before marrying Prince William, Kate lived in an apartment with her sister in Chelsea, which is just over two miles from the place where Sarah was last seen before her disappearance.
Another source told Hello! magazine (opens in new tab) that Sarah's murder had "struck a chord" with Kate and she felt personally compelled to "lay some flowers".
Over the last week, women have been sharing their own experiences on social media of feeling unsafe walking home at night. There's also been information widely shared about how to alert someone via your iPhone (opens in new tab) if you're in trouble.
Kate Middleton visited the memorial for Sarah Everard just a few hours before a peaceful vigil took place on Clapham Common, during which police officers clashed with mourners. People gathered wearing masks at the site at 6pm to pay their respects and show solidarity to all women who are made to feel unsafe.
The clash between members of the Metropolitan Police and the public has been largely criticised by MPs, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan who called the footage of incident "unacceptable".
A man, who is a serving Metropolitan Police Officer, is currently in custody charged with Sarah's kidnap and murder.