William and Kate were 'saddened' today by the death of a teenage cancer-sufferer who met Kate Middleton and Prince William during their the South Pacific.

Leukaemia patient Zakwan Anuar, 15, died two weeks after they visited his hospice in Kualar Lumpur, Malaysia, last month.

'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are saddened to hear of Zakwan's death,' says a St James's Palace spokesman, 'Their thoughts are with his family.'

Kate met Zakwan when she spoke to him at his bedside, telling him he was 'very handsome' and that he was a 'brave boy'.

Zakwan was said to have spent his days either asleep or crying with pain before the Royals' visit and had been given only 48 hours to live.

'We were next to him when he had his last moment. He was surrounded by his brother, sister, father, grandfather, grandmother and school mates. I miss him terribly,' Zakwan's mother Norizan Sulong tells The Sun.

'I hope William and Kate will have beautiful and healthy children of their own one day.'