Prince William meets with the homeless at a charity in London previously visited by Diana
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Prince William evoked the memory of his late mother this morning on a visit to a homeless charity that he opened more than 30 years ago.
The 40-year-old Prince of Wales arrived at Depaul UK in London today to meet people who receive help from the charity, as well as staff who work on its programmes.
Follow in the footsteps of Princess Diana, who visited the charity on engagements in 1990, 1993 and 1995. Diana opened the first Depaul Trust Hostel in Willesden in June 1995.
William’s visit comes in the wake of Prince Harry’s attacks on his brother and sister-in-law, Kate, in his explosive memoir, Spare, when the duke is drawn into a diplomatic spat over Iran’s execution of a British citizen. Iranian.
Prince William attended Depaul UK this morning, 30 years after his late mother Princess Diana began working with the charity.
Despite the powerful fallout from his brother’s memoir, Prince William looked professional as ever on his visit to Depaul UK this morning, following Kate’s first solo outing yesterday since the book was published.
During the visit, he met people who use the service now or have used it in the past, as well as staff from the charity’s education and employability programmes.
The Duke has made working with the homeless one of his key missions as part of his royal duties.
He is a patron of the homeless charity Centrepoint and revealed in 2020 that he talks to his eldest children, Prince George, now eight, and Princess Charlotte, now seven, about the problem of homelessness.
Speaking to Mary Berry for her A Berry Royal Christmas special, she said: “Already on the school run, keep in mind it’s six and four, every time we see someone sleeping rough on the streets, I talk about it and I point it out and explain why and they’re all really interested. They’re like, “Why can’t they just go home?”
Princess Diana first visited the charity in 1990 (pictured on one of her many visits) where she worked with the homeless.
Prince Harry, who launched a series of scathing attacks on his brother William in his memoir Spare and interviews to promote the book, has also held the charity close to his heart (pictured visiting in 2017).
In 2019, the Duke became a patron of The Passage, an organization established in 1980 that has helped more than 135,000 people in crisis through its resource center, homelessness prevention projects and innovative accommodation services.
Diana first brought the royals and her brother, the Duke of Sussex, to the charity in 1993, when they were both young children and William made numerous public and private trips to the organization.
In December 2009, Prince William, then 27 years old, spent a night sleeping rough to understand the plight of the homeless at Christmas.
He arrived just before midnight and was left outside in temperatures as low as minus 4°C (24°F), lying in a central London alleyway surrounded by wheelie bins.
Prince William, who has made homelessness one of his top priorities as a royal, was in good spirits today.
The Prince of Wales chatted with customers while visiting the homeless youth charity in London today.
Second in line to the throne was accompanied by his right-hand man at St James’s Palace, former SAS officer Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, one of the Scotland Yard police protection officers who accompanies him everywhere, and Seyi Obakin, Centrepoint CEO.
Dressed in jeans, sneakers, a hoodie and a beanie, he went unnoticed as he placed a piece of cardboard on the ground and climbed into his sleeping bag.
It wasn’t a completely new experience for former Army officer William, who has often lived hard during exercises. But it certainly wasn’t pleasant, as temperatures plummeted, making sleep almost impossible.
After sleeping fitfully, William rolled up his sleeping bag at 6 a.m. and walked the streets for 45 minutes, stopping to speak to several homeless people along the way.
In 2020, she revealed that she talks to her eldest children, Prince George, now eight, and Princess Charlotte, now seven, about the issue of homelessness.
The Prince of Wales looked professional as he met staff and service users at Depaul UK in London.
William, 40, is said to be focusing on the issue of homelessness as one of his priorities this year.
He went to the Centrepoint hostel on Greek Street, Soho, where he showered before preparing breakfast for some of the residents and cutting a cake to celebrate the charity’s 40th anniversary.
He was doing little better than the average outdoor sleeper, as he was accompanied by his armed personal protection officer, his private secretary, a former SAS officer, and the CEO of the homeless charity.
Even the location, an isolated spot near Blackfriars Bridge in the city, was carefully chosen for safety.
The duke later said that the experience had helped deepen his understanding of life on the streets.
Operating in London and the South East, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and the North East, Depaul UK specializes in supporting young people.
It helps its users find medium to long-term accommodation, offers various programs to help them work, and provides mental health support.
Following a claim in his memoir that he killed some 25 Taliban fighters while serving in Afghanistan, the Iranian regime used the comments to justify the hanging of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari, 61, over the weekend.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry posted on Twitter that the UK was “not in a position to preach” on human rights after Harry’s comments.
Iran assassinated Alireza Akbari after being accused of being an MI6 spy.
Following up on Harry’s claims, senior army officials have criticized the duke as a “stupid child”.
Colonel Richard Kemp, the UK’s former military commander in Afghanistan, said: “Harry should take full responsibility for ammunition for the murderous Iranian regime’s propaganda machine.”
“While all decent people will reject Iran’s lies, many of its supporters will be strengthened by the exploitation of the duke’s reckless comments by the ayatollahs.”
Meanwhile, the duke continued his attacks on his family this weekend while demanding they apologize to his wife, Meghan.
Diana made a number of visits to the homeless charity throughout her life, including in 1990 (pictured)
Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales also opened a branch of the youth charity in Willesden in the 1990s (pictured)
In an interview with the Telegraphhe sent a message to the royals urging them to “come clean” and told them: “You know what you did.”
Harry also said that he wanted to help reform the monarchy so that his niece and nephews, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, would not be affected by the concept of “spare” in the same way that he was.
After expressing concern that one of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ children could also end up feeling like the ‘leftover’, she claimed that Prince William had ‘made it very clear that children are not [Harry’s] responsibility’.
Despite several explosive claims in his memoir, Harry also revealed that the first draft of the autobiography was twice as long as the final draft, but that he ended up leaving out details for fear his family would not forgive him.
Speaking of his family, he said: “I wish they would really sit down with me, properly, and instead of saying I’m delusional and paranoid, they would actually sit down and have a proper conversation about this, because what I would really like is some responsibility. And an apology to my wife.
‘Because you know what you did, and now I know why you did it. And you’ve been caught, so be honest and then we could all move on.