Kate helps a dying boy to smile again

13 Sep 2012, 11:27 pm   -   Source: AAP
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Kranji war memorial in Singapore on Thursday. (AAP)

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Kranji war memorial in Singapore on Thursday. (AAP)

The Duchess of Cambridge has put a smile on the face of a dying boy as she and Prince William continued their tour of south-east Asia.

The mother of a dying boy says meeting the Duchess of Cambridge was a godsend for her son, who smiled "as if the leukemia had gone".

William and Catherine visited a groundbreaking palliative care facility for children on day one of their first visit to Malaysia.

The royal couple have been wined and dined by dignitaries and heads of state but have mirrored the late Princess Diana in the way they relate to the common person, in particular children.

Leukaemia patient Zakwan Anuar, who turned 15 two days ago, said postponing a badly-needed blood transfusion was a small price to pay for meeting the Duchess.

His mother said that Kate, who lavished attention on her son, had helped him find his smile again.

"(He had) almost given up hope," she said, adding that Zakwan had been spending his days sleeping and crying with pain.

"Today, my God, it was as if the leukaemia had gone."

Kate, who is Patron of East Anglia Children's Hospice, chose the venue for her first speech on foreign soil.

"Providing children and their families with a place of support, care and enhancement at a time of great need is simply life changing," she told the gathering at Hospis Malaysia on the south side of Kuala Lumpur.

The visit followed a sombre start to the day in Singapore when the heir to throne paid tribute at the graves of a small group of elite Australian soldiers.

Australia is not on the itinerary for the royal couple's nine-day tour of the region but it was foremost in their minds when they visited the Kranji war memorial in Singapore, where nearly 4500 World War II casualties are buried or commemorated.

The site also bears the names of over 24,000 commonwealth servicemen with the land air forces who have no known grave.

As the sun cut through the monsoonal mist, William and Kate walked past rows of bone-coloured headstones to the resting place of a small group of soldiers from the "Z special unit".

"The prince was aware of Z Force and was keen to visit," group captain Clive Coombes said of William, who has worked as a fulltime pilot with RAF's Search and Rescue Force since 2009.

"(He) recognised that this was a huge amount of resistance towards the end of the war."

The special unit struck a major blow when they bombed several Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour by sneaking up on them in canoes.

But all of them were either captured or killed in a second mission.

Ten men survived - nine Australians and one British Royal Marine - but they were executed just weeks before the end of the war, when the Japanese knew they were losing.

"These 10 guys became known as heroes, particularly in Australia," said Mr Coombes.

Kate wore a floating bespoke duck egg blue dress by Jenny Packham, giving the British designer an outing for the second time this tour.

The buttoned V neck top tapered in at the waist to fall in soft pleats to her knees, teamed with tan shoes and a white parasol.

The royal visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Battle for Singapore, in which more than 1000 Australians were killed or went missing in action and more than 15,000 Australians became prisoners of war.

Over one-third of them died of starvation, illness and brutality in captivity.

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