The events of January 6, 2021, have been repeatedly revisited during the campaign trail for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, with the certification of the eventual results this upcoming January marking the fourth anniversary of the protests that descended into a deadly riot.
In a press conference given at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump told journalists that those involved in January 6 were treated “very harshly” by law enforcement.
Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol en masse on January 6 in protest of the 2020 election results, which saw him defeated by Democratic nominee Joe Biden. In his press conference, Trump also stated that “nobody was killed on January 6.”
Several people died that day of various causes, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt. A capitol police officer also died the day after the riots. Brian Sicknick, 42, who defended the Capitol building on January 6, died the next day after experiencing two strokes.
Sicknick’s death prompted tributes from several high-profile figures, one of whom was revealed in 2022 to have been Prince William.
During an interview with CNN in June 2022, Sicknick’s partner revealed that Prince William was inspired to personally write to her after watching a documentary about January 6 in Britain.
Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images/ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
Sandra Garza was interviewed about Sicknick and shared the contents of the prince’s letter in her interview. CNN released a photo of the text, as well.
“Please forgive me if I am intruding but I wanted to write and let you know how sorry I am about the death of your partner, Brian,” William wrote Garaza.
“Having recently watched documentary footage of the harrowing events that took place at the Capitol building I wanted to acknowledge the patriotism and selflessness of Brian.”
“By all accounts Brian performed valiantly whilst on duty and despite suffering injuries continued to do his utmost to protect those inside,” he said. “I was terribly saddened to hear that he passed away the following day and hope that you can take some comfort from knowing that it is thanks to law enforcement officers like Brian that the situation did not escalate further and democracy was upheld.”
The prince ended his message to Garza with “thoughts and prayers,” saying: “I know that words cannot hope to provide comfort to you at this dreadful time, but I wanted to let you know that you and Brian’s family are very much in my thoughts.”
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The letter was dated September 2021, but Garza said that it took some time to reach her.
The letter marks a rare example of a member of the British royal family, particularly William, offering a public comment relating to a U.S. political or domestic matter. Garza highlighted that though the British prince had sent her his condolences, she had not received contact from former President Donald Trump.
She described William as a “beautiful, wonderful person.”
Kensington Palace did not comment on the prince’s letter or its contents at the time of Garza’s interview.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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