Prince William has made a significant move towards mending his relationship with Prince Harry by mentioning him publicly for the first time in what is believed to be six years. The acknowledgment came during a new documentary about their mother, Princess Diana.
In the ITV documentary titled ‘Prince William: We Can End Homelessness’, William recalls the impactful experience when Diana took him and Harry to a homeless shelter in London to expose them to life beyond Royal privilege.
“My mother took me to the Passage, she took Harry and I both there… I must have been about 11, I think probably at the time, maybe 10. I’d never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious as to what to expect,” William shared.
The film unveils previously unseen images of William and Diana at The Passage shelter in Westminster. One captures a young William engaged in a game of chess with a homeless man during a visit on June 14, 1993, mere days before his 11th birthday.
Another image features William dressed smartly in a suit in December of that year, carrying gifts alongside his mother, reports the Mirror.
William fondly recalled “making everyone feel relaxed and having a laugh and joking with everyone”.
He also reflected: “I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘well, if everyone’s not got a home, they’re all going to be really sad’. But it was incredible how happy an environment it was.
“I remember having some good conversations just playing chess and chatting. That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.
“When you’re quite small, you don’t really, you just think life is what you see in front of you and you don’t really have the concept to look elsewhere and it’s when you meet people, I did then, who put a different perspective in your head and say like, well, ‘I was a living on the street last night’, and you’re like ‘woah’, you know.”
The prince has been followed for a documentary during the first year of his Homewards initiative. This campaign is a significant long-term focus for William, who has spoken about how visiting shelters with his late mother as a child left a profound and lasting impression and inspired his work.
Homewards aims to create a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms, “making it rare, brief and unrepeated”. The documentary will air on October 30 and 31 at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX, STV and STV Player.
William revealed that he discusses rough sleepers with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – much like his mother did with him and his brother Harry when they were children.
When asked in the documentary when he thought would be the right time to introduce George, 11; Charlotte, nine; and Louis, six, to homelessness, he responded: “I am probably already doing it on the school run. The first few times I thought ‘do I bring this up or should I wait to see if they notice? ‘ Sure enough, they did. They were sort of in silence when I said what was going on.”
He added: “I do think it is really important that you start these conversations when the children are small so they understand the world around them, rather than just living in their own worlds.”