A teenager who met Prince William and Princess Kate on a royal engagement in 2016 has taken his own life, an inquest has heard. Zak Kay met the Prince and Princess of Wales in Portsmouth when he won a design competition at the age of 10.
As reported by The Daily Mail, Zak Kay was a pupil at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Portsmouth when he met William, 42, and Kate, 43, showing them his design of a trophy for the Portsmouth leg of the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS). While William and Kate meet a number of people during their engagements, Mr Kay was reported on heavily by the media as he asked the prince what he had brought Prince George for his third birthday, which had happened just days before the 2016 event. William had said: “I am not telling, he got too many things, he’s far too spoilt, he’s not into boats yet.”
An inquest into Mr Kay’s death heard that on July 2 last year, Mr Kay, who was 18 at the time, took his own life by hanging while staying at the home of a friend in Southampton.
Coroner Jason Pegg told the Winchester hearing that he was taken to Southampton General Hospital but had suffered brain damage because of cardiac arrest caused by the hanging.
The court heard that a decision was taken by medics on July 7 to withdraw treatment and Mr Kay died.
He had left a letter, which read: “I couldn’t take being hurt bad again. I am sorry I couldn’t get past this s***. Sorry that I wasn’t strong enough.”
The court also heard from the coroner how Mr Kay, who had ADHD, had been placed in foster care in July 2017 and experienced instability throughout his childhood with a lack of male role models.
The coroner said that Mr Kay could be “violent” to foster carers and had to move several times. He was also being investigated in May 2024 for several alleged offences including selling cocaine and heroin. It was heard that he had breached bail conditions and had made a previous attempt on his life in January 2024. Since then, he had been approached by the adult mental health team but had failed to respond.
Mr Pegg said in court: “Zak had a chaotic and troubled childhood which resulted in Zak being cared for by various foster parents in the Portsmouth area. Zak’s conduct towards them meant he had various moves. Zak, at the time of his passing, was being investigated for a number of alleged offences, some of which were serious.”
In 2016 when Zak met William and Kate, his mother Kelly had said that he was “excited” to meet the couple. She told the media at the time: “I don’t think words can explain how proud I am of Zak. He was hugely excited to meet Kate and I was really, really excited and proud of him. I could cry. He is very talented and hopefully this will help boost his confidence.”
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