Duchess of Cambridge visits Clapham Common to pay tribute to Sarah Everard

Kensington Palace said Kate ‘remembers what it was like to walk around London at night’

The Duchess of Cambridge has visited Clapham Common to pay tribute to Sarah Everard, pausing to look at flowers laid at the memorial.

Kensington Palace said Kate wanted to join the hundreds of people gathered at the common’s bandstand so she could “pay her respects to the family and to Sarah”.

“She remembers what it was like to walk around London at night before she was married,” the palace added.

A formal vigil set to take place at the south London common, where Ms Everard crossed on her journey home on the night of 3 March, was cancelled over police concerns surrounding public health.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “We take no joy in this event being cancelled, but it is the right thing to do given the real and present threat of Covid-19.”

Read more: Sarah Everard vigil latest as groups gather across UK

Reclaim These Streets organisers instead asked people to light a candle in Sarah’s memory, at 9.30pm, the last time she was seen alive.

They have also raised more than “£320,000 for women’s causes: £10K for every proposed fine for the 32 vigils originally scheduled”. The figure stood at £337,406 at 7pm on Saturday – the fundraiser was set up in the morning on the same day.

A High Court judge on Friday refused to intervene on behalf of the event’s organisers over the fight to gather at the common.

The group said it had made suggestions to police about how the vigil could go ahead safely but they were warned each woman organising the event risked a £10,000 fine.

Vigils had been planned in cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Edinburgh and York, but police are thought to have warned their organisers against holding the gatherings as well.

Kate’s visit to the common appears to have been well received, with dozens of people calling it a “class act” following the chaos that has surrounded the royal family this week due to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Another user praised Kate as “kind and sincere”.

Wayne Couzens, a serving Metropolitan Police officer, appeared in court on Saturday charged with Ms Everard’s kidnap and murder.