Prince William reportedly delivered food to homeless people during Covid and managed to avoid detection by wearing a face mask.
The Duke of Cambridge said that it is his mission to end homelessness in the UK and that, inspired by his mother's compassion for the homeless, he is preparing to launch a “really big project” to tackle the issue.
The details of the project are being kept closely guarded.
“It’s nerve-racking,” he told the newspaper.
“But I’m really excited. I’ve been waiting for the right time to do this.”
It was also revealed that William engaged in work on the ground with homeless charity The Passage and even flew under the radar during the coronavirus pandemic to help deliver food to those without a home.
Mick Clarke, chief executive of the Passage, told The Times that William “does an awful lot where there aren’t cameras”.
He added: “That’s what he enjoys the most, because he’s meeting real people, hearing real stories, it’s what has formulated his plans. When he comes here, nothing’s sugar-coated, nothing is sanitised. People on the streets are very good about knowing whether someone is authentic or not within a second. He is very authentic.”
Clarke said that a masked-up, socially distanced William made three visits to the Passage in November 2020, meeting residents and helping prepare meals for their emergency food hub that delivered meals to homeless people.
Clarke recalled: “He’d be making the food with the volunteers, chopping the carrots, boxing the food up into containers, washing up, and in one case he actually delivered the food to one of the hotels in Westminster. They got a surprise when they saw their delivery man.”
While the details on his latest project are secret for now, Prince William revealed that there are social housing plans for the Duchy of Cornwall, the 130,000-acre property empire he now controls after becoming the Prince of Wales.
“You’ll see that when it’s ready,” he said.
“I’m no policy expert, but I push it where I can.”
The Prince is the patron of Centrepoint, a charity which helps homeless young people.
Earlier this week, he officially opened Reuben House, a block of 33 studio properties in south-east London where rents are set at a third of a resident’s income, on behalf of the charity.
The prince also spoke to the paper about his plans to introduce his children to a homeless organisation, in the same way that his mother brought him to a homeless shelter when he was 11 years old.
“When I left this morning, one of the things I was thinking was, ‘When is the right time to bring George or Charlotte or Louis to a homeless organisation?’” he said.
“I think when I can balance it with their schooling, they will definitely be exposed to it. 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.”
