Just as his mother, Princess Diana, once took him to a homeless center, Prince William is set to make a poignant visit to a shelter in the coming months with his kids, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, Hello reports.
According to The Times, William is considering a special visit with his three kids in tow, “a move which echoes his own visits to homeless shelters as a child with his mother, Princess Diana,” Hello reports.
Ending homelessness is a cause incredibly close to William’s heart—so much so that he launched a U.K.-wide program to end homelessness, Homewards, last year. The five-year program “strives to form locally-led coalitions of committed individuals, organizations, and businesses who intend to work together to prevent and ultimately end homelessness in their local areas,” Hello writes.
Those visits when William was young touched him deeply, and, speaking of Homewards, William said “In a modern and progressive society, everyone should have a safe and secure home, be treated with dignity, and given the support they need,” he said. “Through Homewards, I want to make this a reality, and over the next five years, give people across the U.K. hope that homelessness can be prevented when we collaborate.”
He continued “I am fortunate to have seen firsthand the tireless work of people and organizations across the sector, the tangible impact their efforts can have, and what can be done when communities are able to focus on preventing homelessness, rather than managing it,” William said. “It’s a big task, but I firmly believe that by working together it is possible to make homelessness rare, brief, and unrepeated, and I am very much looking forward to working with our six locations to make our ambition a reality.”
Diana, according to Tatler, first took William to a shelter when he was 11 years old. “The issue was a key component of Diana’s work as a royal—and the mantle has been taken up by her eldest son, who is patron of a number of charities tackling the issue,” the outlet reports.
William has told The Sunday Times in the past that he hopes to yet again pass the mantle—this time to his kids George, Charlotte, and Louis—and plans to introduce them to his work by taking them to a shelter: “I think when I can balance it with their schooling, they will definitely be exposed to it,” William said. “On the school run, we talk about what we see. When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets, and we’d talk about it. I’d say to the children, ‘Why are they there? What’s going on?’ I think it’s in all our interests. It’s the right thing to do to expose the children—at the right stage, in the right dialogue—so they have an understanding.”
William added that it will show them that “some of us need to do a bit more where we can to help improve others’ lives,” he said.
To continually promote this effort, William will appear in a new ITV documentary that aims to change perceptions around homelessness, and the two-part series Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, will air this fall. It follows William as he launched Homewards across the U.K., taking viewers behind the scenes of the program’s first year since it launched in June 2023.
“We know that television has the power to change hearts and minds,” The Royal Foundation’s CEO Amanda Berry said of the documentary, adding that it would “raise vital awareness.” She continued that “Homelessness can seem like it is hard to prevent, but by sharing the realities of people’s experiences and those who are coming together to support them, we can inspire action.”
Diana would, no doubt, be so proud.
