Prince William reflects on visit to homelessness charity with Diana: ‘It opened my eyes’

William appeared on homelessness charity Groundswell’s ‘Listen Up’ podcast, speaking to presenters Miles and Nawshin

The Prince of Wales has spoken about how a visit to a homelessness centre with his mother opened his eyes to “the challenges that face people in all walks of life”.

William appeared on homelessness charity Groundswell’s Listen Up podcast where he spoke to presenters Miles and Nawshin.

Miles and Nawshin are volunteer reporters who have experienced homelessness themselves.

He spoke about how his involvement in campaigning against homelessness began when he visited The Passage, a homelessness outreach service in central London, with his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

William is now patron of The Passage.

“It started off with a visit to The Passage with my mother a long time ago, and I think it opened my eyes to some of the challenges that face people in all walks of life,” he said.

“I think that’s quite crucial to reiterate, because I think a lot of people live in bubbles sometimes and they don’t really – they might care, but they won’t really go and look and understand what’s going on.

“That’s not necessarily because they don’t want to, it’s just because they’re not exposed to it.

“They don’t really see it or they don’t maybe have the curiosity to go, or our lives are so busy they don’t have the time to go and do all of that.”

He said he was “grateful” that Diana took him there.

Diana, Princess of Wales, holds a young Prince William’s hand (Adam Butler/PA) (PA Archive)

“I’m really grateful that my mother took me and showed me another part of society, that I probably wouldn’t have exposure to,” he said.

“It piqued an interest at the time, because the kind of characters that I met were incredible, they were wonderful people.

“And the stories, albeit, obviously, at the time it was kept quite light for me at that age, gradually as my interest got deeper into it, and I spent more time talking to people, I’ve always come away hugely inspired by what I’ve heard.

“You know, deeply troubling and deeply traumatic, and frankly should-never-happen stories, but at the end of it I’m utterly in awe of what they’ve been through, and how they’ve managed to get themselves back to where they are, in a relatively safe normal space that they want to be in.”

The full podcast can be found on Spotify, Mixcloud, or Groundswell’s website.

William also featured in a film with Miles and Nawshin for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day.