The heartwarming moment Prince William broke royal protocol

A compassionate Prince William echoes his late mother as he hugged a grief-stricken survivor of the Grenfell Tower inferno.

The Duke of Cambridge ignored royal protocol to comfort Fatima Jafari, 78, who is desperately searching for her husband Ali Yawra.

Mr Jafari, 82, has not been seen since he became trapped in a lift while trying to flee the burning building in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 

The woman sobbed into the concerned Prince's chest as he put his arms around her and told her he would do everything he could to help find her loved one.

The moving moment took place as William and the Queen visited victims near the site of the tragedy on Friday morning.

On Saturday police announced that 58 people are feared dead.

During the visit to the Westway Sports Centre, which is currently being used as a rescue shelter, Prince William talked emotionally about the inferno, describing it as 'one of the most terrible things I have ever seen'. 

The Royals were applauded when they arrived at the site to talk to survivors, rescuers and volunteers. 

Mrs Jafari's daughter Maria, 38, told the Mirror she was overcome with guilt over not being able to save her father in the blaze.

She and her mother had gone outside the flat to investigate the severity of the fire leaving Mr Jafari sleeping inside.

But mere seconds later their home had become engulfed in flames. 

Maria's sister Nadia, 28, was able to escape the inferno but Mr Jafari never emerged.

Maria said: 'She told me she and my father had got stuck in the lift on the 10th floor. She couldn’t breathe because of the smoke. Someone carried her out and she lost him.'

A friend of the Jafaris said Fatima has been 'inconsolable' since losing her husband.

She added: 'The prince saw her in tears and went over to comfort her.

'A council worker explained to him what had happened and he told Fatima he would do everything he could to find her husband. She keeps saying, "I am nobody, but the Queen and future King of this country came to see me. They really care".'

As the Royals left the centre one desperate man shouted, 'What about the children?', at them.

The Duke responded by holding his hand up in a calm manner and told the man not to worry, reassuring him that they would return.

Prince William's compassionate display comes two months after he was filmed comforting a bereft mother whose baby son and husband had died within just days of each other.

In a heartwrenching scene for the BBC1 documentary Mind Over Marathon, the future king bonded with Rhian Burke, 33, over their shared experience of loss, assuring her that her surviving children would be 'absolutely fine' with 'a mum like her'.