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The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall attend the 10th anniversary memorial ceremony of the September 11th attacks
11th September 2011
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall joined families of British 9/11 victims they remembered the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks today.
Moving memorial services were held around the world. In the UK, The Prince of Wales and Prime Minister David Cameron joined bereaved relatives to mark the sad landmark at an emotional ceremony in the September 11 memorial garden in Grosvenor Square, London.
Alexandra Clarke, Chairwoman of the support group for relatives of British 9/11 victims, whose daughter Suria, 30, was killed in the World Trade Centre attacks, reflected on the past decade.
"At this moment 10 years ago, we families were just beginning to realise that something terrible had happened in New York and Washington, and that our lives had changed forever," she said.
"For many of us this 10th anniversary will mark a turning point, a time to try and look forward and not back at past bleak times."
During a speech, His Royal Highness said the families' loved ones were "cruelly, brutally and pointlessly torn from them" when "so much premeditated death and destruction" came out of the skies above New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania on September 11 2001.
He spoke movingly of his strong emotions after his great-uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was murdered by an IRA bomb while sailing his boat off the coast of County Sligo in Ireland in 1979.
"At the time, I remember feeling intense anger, even hatred, of those who could even contemplate doing such a thing," he told those attending the ceremony.
"But then I began to reflect that all the greatest wisdom that has come down to us over the ages speaks of the overriding need to break the law of cause and effect and somehow to find the strength to search for a more positive way of overcoming the evil in men's hearts."
The Prince admitted this was "far easier said than done" but said many people were tired of and bewildered by the "perpetual killing, maiming and senseless terrorism that blights the human family".
He added that the "dreadful act of violence" of 9/11 was intended to divide the world but had actually drawn people together, "one person to another, one community to another".
The US ambassador to Britain, Louis Susman, told the 40 bereaved families gathered for the ceremony: "The ultimate aim of the 9/11 attacks to destroy our way of life failed - it failed utterly."
In what has become a poignant tradition on every anniversary, the bereaved relatives read out the names of the 67 British victims of the attacks and laid a white rose for each one on the memorial.
The Prince, Mr Cameron and Mr Susman also laid wreaths, and actress Dame Judi Dench read Christina Rossetti's poem "Remember me, when I am gone away", as she did when the garden was opened in 2003.
Hannah Ali, whose sister Sarah, 35, was killed in the World Trade Centre, read American author Henry Van Dyke's poem For Katrina's Sun-Dial, beginning "Time is too slow for those who wait", which is inscribed on the memorial stone in the garden.
After the ceremony Their Royal Highnesses met the families in a marquee behind the memorial.
Anne-Marie Mosley, whose brother Benjamin Walker, 41, an employee of insurance brokers Marsh McClennan, was killed on the 91st floor of the World Trade Centre's north tower, said the bereaved relatives were grateful for The Prince's support over the years.
She said: "He has lost family in a terror attack. It is very poignant to have someone to emphasise with the group."
Her sister Ruth Tufnell added: "It is 10 years on, all our lives have changed a great deal - and the world has changed a great deal. It is nice to remember what has been but also to look forward to what is going to happen in the future."
The Prince also met the family of British victim Hashmukh Parmar, 48, an IT manager for broker Cantor Fitzgerald.
Read the speech by The Prince of Wales at the memorial ceremony.