London: As he sifts through the hundreds of letters of condolence received after the death of his wife, Ben Barboza handles one in particular with a special reverence.
The crisp white envelope bears a Buckingham Palace postmark and the handwritten card inside is emblazoned with a `W’ monogram.
But the document’s special significance for Ben and his family is not so much because it bears the unmistakable hallmarks of the future king, but rather the simple expression of human decency and kindness contained within.
Prince William wrote the emotionally-charged letter on behalf of himself and his wife three weeks after Jacintha Saldanha committed suicide at the hospital where she worked as a night sister.
She had been duped by a hoax phone call from DJs at an Australian radio station trying to get information about Kate, who had been admitted to the hospital during her pregnancy with Prince George.
Details of the letter from William — and also of other notes from Sarah Ferguson and her daughters Beatrice and Eugenie — were shared with The Mail on Sunday by Ben and his children as they gave their first interview about the devastating impact Saldanha’s death two years ago has had on the family.
Ben also revealed he cannot forgive the radio station that set up the prank call — while his son Junal, 18, told how he too contemplated suicide as he struggled to come to terms with the loss of his mother.
William’s note, written on New Year’s Day, three weeks after the tragedy and while he was stationed on Anglesey on helicopter search-and-rescue missions, said: `Jacintha and her colleagues looked after us both extremely well, and I am just so sorry that someone who cared for others so much found themselves in such a desperate situation.’
The Duchess of York recalled the death of her own mother, Susan Barrantes, in a road accident in Argentina in 1998 when she addressed two cards to Junal and his 17-year-old sister, Lisha.
To Lisha, Sarah wrote: `I send so much love for your broken heart. I am so sorry you are without your Mummy. I lost mine in a car crash, and it is so final, and you wish you had said Goodbye and said so much.’ She also sent each of them a fountain pen.
Ben, 50, whose wife kept her own surname after they married in 1993, said the messages, along with 6,000 others in letter and electronic form from well-wishers all around the world, brought some much-needed strength and comfort to his family at their lowest ebb.
Their tragedy unfolded after Kate was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London with severe morning sickness in December 2012. The DJs, Mel Greig and Mike Christian, placed a bogus call to the hospital, posing as the Queen and the Prince of Wales inquiring about Kate’s condition.
Saldanha, 46, was night sister and took the call then transferred it through to the ward. The resulting recording of the conversation with Saldanha, who was known as Jess, and a colleague went viral and was heard all over the world.
Two days after it was broadcast, Jess was found dead in her nurse’s flat, having hanged herself with a scarf and cut her wrists.
Two years on, Barboza, still can’t believe the audacity of the DJs or their bosses at the radio station who sanctioned the broadcast.
“I am just really angry, why did they do that?” he said. “Just a matter of three or four seconds changed our whole life. They were making some kind of mockery saying, ‘OK, we fooled them.’ I can’t forgive the people who broadcast that.”
Inside the family’s neat home in Southmead, Bristol, photographs of Jess adorn almost every wall, along with religious verses, a reflection of the family’s devout Roman Catholicism. Barboza said: `She was a beautiful lady, brilliant, courageous, and very professional.
`She was a lovely wife, a very good mother for the children and a helping hand for many people. I still can’t believe she is not with us,’
Junal revealed how deeply the tragedy had affected him.
“I hit the lowest of the lows. It’s been difficult, and if it wasn’t for my friends and family I don’t think I’d be here right now.”
Christmas signals an inevitably grim reminder of their loss — as do photographs of Prince George.
Barboza said: `We don’t feel like it is Christmas without her, it’s just another day for us. She was the one who used to buy the gifts and everything. She was the one who would create the Christmas atmosphere.
“We will always think of Jess when Christmas comes or when we see the Prince or his parents,” he added. “That is why the card from William is so precious to us, as well as the ones from the Duchess of York. They remind us there are people who care about us, however important they are.”
Keith Vaz, the MP for Leicester East, who has been helping the Saldanha family, said the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had taken `enormous interest’ in the family’s plight and asked to be kept updated.
He said: “The concern and sympathy the Royal couple have shown is just outstanding. Barboza is extremely grateful.”
The Queen’s physician, professor John Cunningham, who knew Jess, also wrote to her husband saying: “She was without doubt one of the three or four best nurses that I have ever encountered in approximately 40 years of medical practice.”
