King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William will make a rare joint public appearance in Wales next week to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, one of the darkest tragedies in British history.
The royal party will visit the South Wales village on October 21, marking six decades since a devastating avalanche of coal waste engulfed Pantglas Junior School and nearby homes, killing 144 people, including 116 schoolchildren and 28 adults.
The visit will allow the senior royals to pay tribute to those who died and meet members of a community that has spent decades preserving the memories of the victims.
The disaster occurred at 9.13am on October 21, 1966, when approximately 150,000 tonnes of colliery waste slid down a hillside and buried the school, where children were preparing for the half-term holiday that was due to begin the following day.
The scale of the devastation was such that some streets in Aberfan were left without a single surviving child.
King Charles to Meet Survivor Photographed With Prince Philip
One of the most personal moments of the royal visit will be King Charles’s meeting with Gareth Jones, who was six years old when he survived the disaster and met the late Prince Philip the following day.
Now 66, Mr Jones has kept a photograph of that encounter in his living room for decades.
The black-and-white image shows the young survivor alongside his mother, Rene, his siblings and his grandfather, Robert Davies, a retired miner and lay preacher.
Prince Philip had travelled to Aberfan on October 22, 1966, to meet residents and witness the destruction.
Mr Jones was rescued from his classroom through a window by school caretaker Stephen Andrews, who tragically lost two of his own sons in the disaster.
His sister Janice, then 11, and brother Graham, seven, also survived.
Their family home had been damaged by the avalanche, prompting the children to stay with their grandparents.
Speaking about the upcoming meeting, Mr Jones told the Mail that the King had learned about the photograph and wanted to know more about the children pictured with his father.
He recalled that, as a young boy, he had assumed Prince Philip was the King because he was married to the Queen.
The Duke of Edinburgh stopped to speak to the family and asked whether all three children had survived.
Mr Jones said the photograph held a special place in his life, particularly because it also connected the King to his late father.
He noted that the absence of other children in the image was a reminder of the lives lost that day.
Survivor Determined to Attend Despite Recent Hospital Stay
Mr Jones, a father of three who has lived in Aberfan throughout his life, has spent recent weeks in hospital receiving treatment for a serious lung condition.
He was discharged last week and is now working to regain his strength ahead of the royal visit.
Despite his health difficulties, he is determined to stand when he meets the King, although his children have purchased a wheelchair in case he needs additional support.
He said he was looking forward to sharing his memories of Prince Philip’s visit and emphasised that the Royal Family had continued to remember Aberfan through subsequent visits.
Mr Jones also regularly speaks to local schoolchildren about the disaster and his escape.
Earlier this year, he was giving a talk when he discovered that one of the children in attendance was the great-great-grandson of Stephen Andrews, the caretaker who had pulled him to safety.
That child is also expected to present a posy to King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to Cardiff.
Mr Jones previously met Queen Elizabeth II when he was 14, at the official opening of the Aberfan Memorial Garden in 1974.
Queen Elizabeth’s Delayed Visit Remained a Source of Regret
The anniversary will also recall the criticism Queen Elizabeth faced for waiting eight days before visiting Aberfan in October 1966.
Prince Philip and then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson travelled to the disaster site the day after the collapse.
The Queen, however, remained away on the advice of her private secretary, Lord Charteris.
The decision was based on concerns that her presence might obstruct rescue operations and draw attention away from grieving families.
Lord Charteris later acknowledged that the decision had been a mistake, while the late Queen came to regard her delayed visit as one of the greatest regrets of her reign.
When she eventually arrived in Aberfan, reports described her as visibly emotional while meeting bereaved relatives.
Her response to the families’ grief prompted longstanding discussion about whether the monarch had cried publicly during the visit.
Marilyn Brown, whose 10-year-old daughter Janette died in the disaster, recalled that the Queen appeared deeply affected by the suffering she witnessed.
The episode later reached a wider audience through the third season of The Crown, which portrayed the monarch’s hesitation and subsequent regret over the visit.
Mr Jones, however, has defended the late Queen’s decision to wait.
He said he believed she had stayed away out of respect for the families who had lost their children, adding that he continued to view her decision to allow the immediate crisis to settle as appropriate.
King and Queen to Visit Cardiff During Welsh Engagement
The Aberfan commemoration forms part of a series of Welsh engagements for the King and Queen, who will also visit Cardiff to officially open the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament.
Mr Jones intends to bring the photograph of his family with Prince Philip to show Charles and Camilla during the visit.
Queen Camilla and Prince William will accompany the King for the Aberfan anniversary, making the gathering a rare occasion on which the three senior royals undertake a public engagement together.
William previously visited Aberfan with the Princess of Wales in 2023, while Charles met the wives of victims during his first visit to Wales as monarch in 2022.
A Palace source said the royal attendance reflected the family’s longstanding relationship with the people of Aberfan.
The source added that the visit would provide an opportunity to remember those who died and hear accounts of how residents supported one another through the tragedy.
