The Prince of Wales has taken Prince George to visit a charity close to his heart after previously vowing to bring his children to a homelessness organisation.
Prince William, 43, was joined by his 12-year-old son who got “stuck in” with Christmas lunch preparations held by The Passage in Victoria for some of their clients.
During the heartwarming visit on Tuesday morning, father and son helped with care packages and decorated a Christmas tree, with one of the trees previously used for the Princess of Wales’s Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey earlier this month.
Mick Clarke, chief executive of The Passage, who showed the young prince around the St Vincent’s centre in central London, told George about their No Night Out campaign, which aims to prevent someone from spending even one night on the streets by offering early support.
“I said your dad’s been involved with the passage for many, many years. Your grandma [Princess Diana] took him to The Passage when he was about your age,” Mick said. “And what you’re going to be doing today is helping us prepare for our Christmas lunch, which is a really important day because it’s for people who perhaps won’t have a place that they can call home this Christmas.
“I said, we’ve just got a number of different things for you to help us with. So, time to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. He was well up for it. Absolutely. Very much like his dad in terms of he just wanted to crack on, which was lovely.”
William and George also assisted with laying the tables, complete with their favourite football team Aston Villa-themed Christmas crackers, before joining Head Chef Claudette Dawkins to help prepare the lunch that would be served later that day.
Mr Clarke said of the pair in the kitchen: “Again, that was absolutely lots of banter. William was doing the sprouts, putting them into big trays because they were going to be steamed. George was doing Yorkshire puddings and things. And there is a lovely image that captures myself, Claudette and the two of them. It’s just beautiful. And for me, it just shows how relaxed William is.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington Pala“He’s always very relaxed at The Passage. It always kind of feels like a family, really. But it also, I think, shows how relaxed George was. And I think that was one of the nicest things.
“He clearly felt very comfortable and, you know, just really enjoyed cracking on and getting involved. So they spent about 10 to 15 minutes chatting with volunteers, but getting all the veg and stuff ready for the meal.”
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “It was important to The Prince of Wales to share with Prince George the work of The Passage and to spend time volunteering alongside the team. They both greatly enjoyed meeting staff, volunteers and service users as well as learning more about the charity’s work. The dedication shown not only by The Passage but by organisations across the homelessness sector, at Christmas and throughout the year, is invaluable.”
William became patron of the Passage in 2019 after being introduced to the London-based homelessness charity more than 30 years ago with his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
He has made several visits over the years and when his patronage was announced, he reflected on the profound effect the organisation has had on him, saying: “The visits I made as a child to this place left a deep and lasting impression upon me – about how important it is to ensure that everyone in our society, especially the poorest, are treated with respect, dignity and kindness, and are given the opportunities to fulfil their potential in life.”
“Proud dad moment”
In another poignant moment, during the visit, Prince George was “fascinated” as he signed The Passage’s visitors’ book on the same page previously signed by his father and his late grandmother, with the youngster also commenting: “Wow. Ok.”
Mr Clarke described the visit as “a proud dad moment” for William and a chance to tell his eldest son “That’s my mum”.
After the pair spent about around an hour at the centre, The Passage sent the princes away with three teddy bears, including ones for George’s younger siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. William later sent food hampers containing cakes and other items to be distributed to the residential centres.
Issue close to his heart
William is also patron of Centrepoint and celebrated 20 years as its “proud” patron last week as he visited the organisation’s new offices in London, adding the finishing touches to a mural, and praising the charity’s staff for how much they had “achieved” in 20 years.
Diana became Centrepoint’s patron in 1992 and her eldest son followed in her footsteps in 2005 when he made the charity the first patronage of his public life, and at the time spent a few days working as a volunteer at the charity.
© Alamy Live NewsIn an interview with The Sunday Times in 2023 as he launched his five-year Homewards programme, which aims to eradicate homelessness in all its forms, he revealed that he had spoken to his three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, about homelessness.
He said at the time: “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?’
“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.
© Victoria Jones/Shutterstock“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 explained.
“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 help others improve their lives.”
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