Prince William surprised people in his first-ever press interview during the grand unveiling of an affordable housing development. The now Prince of Wales opened up about royal life and his dedication to preventing homelessness.
The Prince of Wales spoke candidly to the media for the first time since becoming heir to the throne following his father King Charles stepping up as monarch after Queen Elizabeth II's tragic passing in September.
Prince William is patron of Reuben House in Peckham, southeast London, which is an affordable housing development of 33 flats for young people from Centrepoint. He has been a keen campaigner for the homeless following in the footsteps of his late mum Diana.
The 40-year-old has been a hopeful voice for those in poverty across the country after being taken to a homeless shelter by the late Princess Diana when he was aged just 11 years old, reports the Mirror.
William's interview with The Sunday Times saw him answer some uncomfortable questions surrounding perceptions of the Royal family, after the spotlight was put on them by his estranged brother Prince Harry. He also addressed why the monarchy doesn't open up any of its properties to the homeless.
William admitted 'its hard' for the public to see the point of the royals
Prince William admitted during the interview that “it’s hard sometimes” for many people in today's society to see the point of the Royal Family.
The death of the late Queen brought up questions about the monarchy and the role that it will have going forward, as many people believe the institution is no longer needed in today's era.
Amid a lot of backlash over his estranged brother Prince Harry making bombshell allegations against the family, William said he understands all the “causes” that they try to highlight might be forgotten.
“But the amount of causes, the interests, the dinners, the meetings, the visits, whatever it is, that we do day in, day out, throughout the year, we’ve always been involved in that. It’s part of what we do," he added.
Prince of Wales spent a night 'sleeping rough'
William once spent one night sleeping rough near a London tube station 14 years ago to experience how the homeless community really live out on the streets.
Centrepoint CEO Seyi Obakin joined the royal in Blackfriars and was impressed with how he fared during the experience.
He said they both walked back to the charity's service HQ in Soho at dawn and William admitted he was "very uncomfortable".
However, Mr Obakin said the royal fared "much better than me".
His uncomfortable 'non-answer' about spare rooms
William initially gave an "eloquent non-answer" when quizzed about why he doesn't give over some of his spare rooms to help house the homeless, a question which many members of the public have often wondered.
The 40-year-old Prince has homes at Kensington Palace, Adelaide Cottage in Windsor and Anmer Hall on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk, as well as the run of many other royal residences.
He now also controls the Duchy of Cornwall, a 130,000-acre property empire stretching from Cornwall to Kent.
After being asked again, he said "there is" duchy plans for social housing, adding he will “start small” with such accommodation on his land and that if he can demonstrate it is viable he then has plans to scale it up.
Meets homeless in 'disguise' but won't give out cash
When William was asked if he ever gets the opportunity to walk the public streets incognito and encounter the homeless, he answered: "Totally."
However, he added: “I don’t tend to give money. I tend to buy them a drink, food, something like that. I find that when I’m walking around or driving past and see other people do it [give money], people don’t even look at them. How many people stop and talk to somebody who is homeless? Very few of us."
It comes as he tried to go in disguise last year and fly under the radar by selling copies of The Big Issue while wearing a baseball cap and jeans but was soon snapped by paps.
William added it's "very hard to make it not about me", and said he'd rather do such gestures in private and not "with an audience".
Secret food delivery to homeless hotel during Covid
Passage CEO Mick Clarke revealed that William sported a mask during the Covid pandemic and made three separate visits to the charity back in November 2020.
He met with those who use the service and also prepared meals for an emergency food hub where he helped chop carrots, box food in containers, washed up and in one case delivered meals to a homeless hotel in Westminster.
"They got a surprise when they saw their delivery man," Mr Clarke said.
His kids following in the footsteps of late Diana
William said he is still considering when the right time would be to take kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to a homeless organisation, just like his late mother Princess Diana did with him as a young child.
He revealed: "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."
He said he would ask them "why are they there?" and "what's going on?"
William added that it is important to teach his kids, like many others, that some people are "very fortunate" while others need a "helping hand".
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