A royal expert has revealed how Prince William is carrying on the charity work his late mother Princess Diana began with an 'ambitious' project - and he's using it to help keep his kids’ feet on the ground too.
The careers, interests, and hobbies of parents and grandparents have a profound impact on the generations that come after them, from the way grandparents inspire new interests in grandkids to how parents lead their children into similar careers as them - as happened with one Bridgerton star whose actor parents are incredibly famous stars of the screen.
It's no different for Prince William. Of course, while he had no choice but to become a working royal like his parents due to his position in the royal line of succession, his late mother Princess Diana instilled some very important interests in him, namely his interest in ending homelessness.
As a young boy, Diana took both William and his brother Prince Harry to experience first hand the struggles faced by those experiencing homelessness and it clearly had a profound impact on William as he's now working on a project to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness, making it 'rare, brief, and unrepeated.'
Not only this, but he is also now the patron of homeless organisations such as The Passage and Centrepoint, the latter being his mother's favourite charity.
Speaking to OK! Magazine about Diana's influence on her son, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said, "The scourge of homelessness is something his mother made him aware of when he was just a young boy.
"Which other young Prince had ever been shown what it’s like to live on the streets, been taken to visit hostels for the homeless and learned at first hand what it’s like to be down and out? Diana must take much of the credit for making William into the person he is, and for his determination to make some real changes to our society."
But not only has Diana made William determined, she's also inspired him to be brave and prepared for failure. Bond said of William's plans, "It is one hell of an ambitious project: to show that it’s possible to end homelessness and is something that no government has ever even approached.
"It’s brave to set yourself up for possible failure. The task is a huge one and good on William for trying to make a difference."
William is also keen to get his own three kids, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, involved in his charity work, just as his mother did with him.
He previously said that the youngsters 'will definitely be exposed' to the impact of homelessness as they grow up as he's keen to remind them that their lives are incredibly privileged - though exactly how he's going to do that, he's unsure of.
"I think when I can balance it with their schooling, they will definitely be exposed to it [homelessness]. 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 told the Sunday Times in an interview.
"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."
He added, "They [will] grow up knowing that actually, do you know what, some of us are very fortunate, some of us need a little bit of a helping hand, some of us need to do a bit more where we can to help others improve their lives."
In other royal news, the telling sign Prince George is growing into his role as a Royal has been revealed - and his future career plans have a sweet nod to uncle, Prince Harry. Plus, we reveal that, while Princess Diana left the bulk of her fortune to sons Prince William and Prince Harry, there’s one thing from her childhood they’ll never inherit and the real heir is surprising. And with experts saying that Princess Charlotte is ‘really taking care of her mum’ Kate Middleton throughout her cancer treatment, we wonder if she's taking on the ‘responsibility’ due to eldest daughter syndrome.
