Princess Beatrice Is Reportedly Heartbroken Over This Sad News

Princess Beatrice is reportedly “devastated” after receiving some sad news this week. The 30-year-old royal is said to have been heartbroken after learning that a children’s hospice, of which she is a patron, has been forced to close.

Grace’s Place, a children’s hospice in Radcliffe, England, was due to open this week. However, it was only able to raise a fraction of the £1.2 million it would need to operate. The hospice had been in the planning stages for some time but had not received enough funding to start operations.

In July 2017, the Huddersfield-based charity Forget Me Not took over the management of the facility. The organization, whose patron is Beatrice, provides support for children with life-limiting illnesses.

In a press statement released earlier this week, Luen Thompson, the chief executive of Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, said that the organization has begun consultations with its staff on the possibility of closing its children’s hospice service at Grace’s Place. The facility opened in January this year and has been providing hospice services three days a week and daycare services on alternate Saturdays.

“Despite the tremendous goodwill and support Grace’s Place has received from the local community, the costs of providing high-quality care are rising and exceed the funds we are able to raise,” Thompson wrote. She added that combined with the insufficient funding from the National Health Service, they have had a shortfall from dwindling reserves. This, she noted, is not a position that would be sustainable long term.

“We do not underestimate the distress that the proposed closure will cause to families and deeply regret causing them any uncertainty and upset,” Thompson wrote. To help ease the burden on patients and facilities, Thompson said that Forget Me Not is creating a transport fund that would enable patients and their families on their current caseload to access care and support at the Russell House children’s hospice in Huddersfield or at other children’s hospices.

Beatrice, the elder daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, officially opened Russell House in 2012 and became a royal patron of Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in July 2013. She visits the hospice and is known to stick cards and artwork from the children to her refrigerator. Beatrice has yet to comment on the shutting down of Grace’s Place.