Camerons recall personal terror of 9/11 during visit to Ground Zero site

The visit brought back memories of the frantic phone calls made by David Cameron to his wife Samantha who was in New York that day and pregnant with their first child.

For several hours, Mr Cameron was unable to contact his wife because of the mobile phone blackout.

The couple met Charles Wolf, whose wife Katherine died aged 40 on 9/11. Originally from Swansea, Mrs Wolf moved to the US after meeting her American husband and had been working with Marsh & McLennan in the North Tower for just three weeks before the attacks.

After meeting the Camerons, Mr Wolf said: “It’s a great honour. It was very, very nice for both he and his wife to come. It was very personal as well as being official.

“Of course they have had their own loss of their child, and when you are with someone who’s had a recent loss like that, you know you are with people who get it, who care.”

Before going to pay their respects, the couple went up into one of the new skyscrapers being built around the Ground Zero site, where Port Authority officials showed them plans for the redevelopment of the area.

The visit came after a glitzy two-day stay in Washington where the Camerons were given the red carpet treatment by President Obama and feted by the cream of Hollywood and US society.

A high point was the White House banquet hosted by the president where Mrs Cameron found herself sitting between her husband and movie heart throb actor George Clooney.

Mr Cameron noted in his speech: “I had a stiff competition.”

Mrs Cameron was disappointed because she had hoped to meet her favourite actor from her favourite movie.

Mr Cameron asked his wife if it was Ben Kingsley or Peter O’Toole she was so keen to meet.

But it turned out to be Chevy Chase, star of Caddyshack.