Prince and Princess of Wales visit site of 1966 Aberfan disaster

Royal couple pay respects to victims of mining landslide that killed 144 people, including 116 children

Aberfan disaster survivor David Davies with the Prince and Princess of Wales in the memorial garden commemorating the 1966 disaster in south-east Wales. Getty

The Prince and Princess of Wales have visited Aberfan, the site of the worst mining-related disaster in British history, which killed 144 people, including 116 children.

At the village near Merthyr Tydfil, south-east Wales, Prince William and his wife Kate walked through the Aberfan Memorial Garden to pay their respects to the victims of the 1966 accident.

The disaster occurred after the collapse of a colliery spoil tip following three weeks of heavy rain, sending a landslide of ash slurry on to the village below.

The garden is located on the site of Pantglas Primary School, which was covered in tonnes of black sludge at 9.13am on October 21, minutes after pupils arrived for the last day before the half-term holiday.

People gathered on the street to greet the royal couple on Friday.

They were led around the memorial garden by Aberfan survivor David Davies, a former pupil at Pantglas Primary School, and Prof Peter Vaughan, Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan.

The Prince and Princess of Wales also met trustees from the Aberfan Memorial Trust who maintain the garden, and members of the Aberfan Wives group, who lost relatives in the disaster.

At the time of the accident, Prince William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, waited eight days before going to Aberfan, despite her husband the Duke of Edinburgh and then-prime minister Harold Wilson visiting the day after the disaster.

Her decision not to visit sooner was said to have been one of the greatest regrets of the queen, who died last year.

An entire episode of Netflix drama The Crown was devoted to the disaster and the queen's response.

In 1974, the queen opened the Aberfan Memorial Garden to commemorate the victims and provide a place for bereaved families, survivors and the community to pay their respects.

She visited again in 1997, and for a final time in 2012, when she opened Ynysowen Community Primary School

The Prince and Princess of Wales were introduced to two Aberfan rescuers earlier in their trip, on Thursday, during a visit to the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park — until recently Brecon Beacons National Park — to meet the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team.

Bob Thomas, 75, and Nick Richards, 79, who helped in the aftermath of disaster, told royal couple about clearing the ash slurry, which Mr Thomas likened to moving “dry concrete”.

“It was really heavy and it must have come down like a train, because it has taken out a row of houses and the school,” he said.

Prince William told them: “It's a real pleasure to meet you both. My grandmother told me many times about Aberfan.”

Mr Thomas told the Prince of Wales that his grandmother “did the right thing in not coming immediately, because it would have been a distraction”.

That feeling was also expressed in a 2021 letter from one of the Aberfan Wives to King Charles III — at the time the Prince of Wales.

Gloria Davies told the prince that “it was wiser for them that they left it for a week to return”, as there was so much recovery work taking place.

Her note features in a new book, Charles: The King And Wales, by BBC journalist Huw Thomas.

The Aberfan disaster was the result of the collapse of one of seven spoil tips above the village. Created eight years earlier, it was more than 33m tall.

Against rules of the National Coal Board, the corporation that ran Britain's nationalised coal mining industry, it was sited on top of ground with springs, which made the structure less stable. Heavy rain worsened this, resulting in the landslide.

An official inquiry into the disaster blamed NCB leaders, who had ignored repeated warnings about the tip's dangerous condition from local residents and Merthyr Borough Council.