Prince William Wrote a Letter of Condolences to Girlfriend of Fallen Capitol Riot Police Officer

Jon Super-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince William

Prince William sent a letter to the partner of a Capitol police officer who died following the Jan. 6 riots.

Sandra Garza, the partner of Brian Sicknick, revealed on CNN Thursday that she had recently received the note from the Duke of Cambridge, who offered his condolences. Sicknick died the day following the riot after suffering two strokes.

"Please forgive me if I am intruding but I wanted to write and let you know how sorry I am about the death of your partner, Brian," Prince William, 39, wrote. "Having recently watched documentary footage of the harrowing events that took place at the Capitol building I wanted to acknowledge the patriotism and selflessness of Brian."

William continued, "By all accounts Brian performed valiantly whilst on duty and despite suffering injuries continued to do his utmost to protect those inside. I was terribly saddened to hear that he passed away the following day and hope that you can take some comfort from knowing that it is thanks to law enforcement officers like Brian that the situation did not escalate further and democracy was upheld."

"I know that words cannot hope to provide comfort to you at this dreadful time but I wanted to let you know that Brian's family are very much in my thoughts," Prince William said.

USCP Officer Brian D. Sicknick

Garza praised Prince William as a "beautiful, wonderful person" and criticized President Donald Trump for not reaching out in a similar way.

"Former President Trump does not give two craps about law enforcement or Brian, and yet Prince William took the time to reach out to me to honor Brian's memory," Garza said.

While members of the British royal family are known to reach out to members of the public to offer condolences on occasion, the political nature of the Jan. 6 riots makes Prince William's note surprising. Regardless of the political party in charge in the U.K., the monarchy and Parliament must work together in order to keep things running smoothly. Therefore, the royal family — including Queen Elizabeth — does not vote or publicly express their political views.

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In March 2020, however, William's brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle officially stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family and relocated to California, Meghan's home state. In the following months, Meghan revealed that she planned to vote in the U.S. presidential election that year.