London — King Charles III of England visited the English town of Southport on Tuesday to meet with survivors and families of the victims of the knife attack. Attack that left three young girls dead and 10 others injured during a Taylor Swift-themed children’s dance class last month. The queen’s visit comes just a day after the pop icon herself met two of the young survivors backstage at one of her London concerts.
King Charles arrived in Southport and was greeted by hundreds of locals from the seaside town as he visited a floral tribute to the victims of the attack.
“His Majesty The King will visit Southport to express his continued support for those affected by the attack on 29 July and the subsequent riots in the town, and to thank frontline emergency personnel for their continued work in serving local people,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “The meeting will include some of the surviving children who were present at Hart Space Community Centre, and their families.”
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Three girls, Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, were killed in the attack. The stabbing has shocked the country and sparked riots led by far-right groups across England. The unrest was fuelled by widespread misinformation spread on social media about the identity of the attacker following the attack.
A 17-year-old man was arrested and charged of attempted murder and murder. CBS News partner BBC News reported that the suspect was born in Cardiff, Wales, and moved to the Southport area in 2013.
On Monday, Swift met two young girls who were injured in the attack backstage at her concert at Wembley Stadium in London. A TikTok montage posted by the girls’ mother, Sami Foster, of photos showing her daughters meeting the pop star, as well as Swift’s own mother, Andrea, quickly went viral.
Swift met the family wearing the one-piece suit that has become synonymous with her record-breaking “Eras” concert tour. In one of the photos, one of the girls appears to have a bandage on her forearm as she poses with the singer.
The post featuring Foster’s daughters, Hope and Autumn, with Swift was captioned, “You drew stars around my scars,” a reference to lyrics from Swift’s song “Cardigan.”
Swift had expressed shock at the attack last month. In a statement posted to her Instagram account in July, she expressed her “horror” at “the loss of life and innocence and the horrific trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families and the first responders.”
“They were just little kids taking a dance class,” the message read. “I don’t know how to express my sympathy to these families.”
