The Prince of Wales said his mother would be “disappointed” the UK is still no further along with tackling the problem of homelessness. William appeared in a short film as part of the 2023 Comic Relief broadcast where he sat down with two people who had experienced homelessness.
For the film, William visited Groundswell, a homelessness organisation supported by Comic Relief, and spoke to Nawshin and Miles. He said that his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, had been interested and involved in tackling the issue throughout her life.
“My mother introduced me to the cause of homelessness from a young age and I’m really glad she exposed me to that – that part of life,” he said. “I think she’d be disappointed that we’re still no further along the line in terms of tackling homelessness and preventing it than probably when she was interested in and involved in it.”
Sitting down with Nawshin and Miles, the Prince of Wales told them: “I’m here to really learn a bit more from you both, to hear a bit more about your lived experience of homelessness.” Nawshin described her story as “relatively complicated”, having been in and out of mental health hospital as well as having been homeless.
She said that the constant changes had affected her “psyche”, adding: “It affects your self-confidence. You stop being a unique individual.”
Miles told William he had gone through a “dark difficult period about five years ago”, saying he had “hit my rock bottom” after suffering his 10th seizure. “Life threw so many things at me. I had to lose everything to actually find out what I needed,” he said.
“When you’re homeless, not having a support network, not having people you can rely on, it makes the pain of the situation so much worse,” Nawshin added, to which William nodded in acknowledgement. “There’s a lot of stigma, there’s a lot of misconceptions out there about what homelessness is,” William said.
“Organisations like Groundswell rely heavily on being able to do their work through the funding that comes from Comic Relief and so it’s absolutely vital that we support them in any way we can.”
