Prince William has followed in his motherPrincess Diana’s footsteps by visiting a homelessness charity she supported more than 30 years ago.
The Prince of Wales, 40, travelled to Depaul UK in London on Thursday to meet people who receive help from the organisation, along with staff working on its programmes.
Diana visited the charity in engagements in 1990 and 1993, and opened the first Depaul Trust Hostel in Willesden in June 1995.
During the engagement, William was stunned to learn the charity is having to support children from a young age.
While speaking with staff at the London headquarters, the future king asked: “What age group are you seeing actual risk of homelessness starting?"
The team said they have helped children from 13 and upwards who have already suffered relationship breakdowns at home.
When he learned that children as young as nine had asked for help from the charity, he replied: “It starts so young, that's terrifying.”
Diana was instrumental in teaching her sons William andPrince Harry about the issue of homelessness, taking them to meet rough sleepers during the early 1990s when they were young schoolboys to broaden their understanding of inequality.
William is patron of the homelessness charities Centrepoint and The Passage and, last summer, became the cover star of the Big Issue magazine after he joined a vendor on the streets of London.
The prince told the Depaul UK staff: “So much about homelessness is (not) just about not having a house, there’s so much more to it.”
Depaul’s support services include emergency accommodation and longer term housing for homeless young people or those at risk of becoming rough sleepers.
Its programmes enable access to education and employment, while allowing service users to manage their mental health and wellbeing.
Prince Harry has also visited Depaul UK and its partner The Running Charity in Willesden in January 2017 when he was focused on exploring how sport can be used to help vulnerable young people and communities.
William's visit comes in the wake of the bombshell revelations in Harry's bookSpare – which have brought a freshround of attacks on the Royal Family.
Among the most explosive allegations in the book was one claim thatWilliam attacked Harry in a row over Meghan Markle.
Harry also claimed that the Prince and Princess of Wales encouraged him to wear hisinfamous Nazi uniform to a 2005 fancy dress party.
The Duke of Sussex’s memoir broke records after its release – with the English language editionselling more than 1.4 million copies on its first day of publication.
Penguin Random House, who published the explosive autobiography, say the figure is their largest everfirst-day sales total for any non-fiction book.
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