Prince William inherits Lady Di's fight against homelessness

At the risk of highlighting the over-accommodation of the British royal family, the Prince of Wales this week launched a new initiative, called Homewards, which aims to end to the problem of homelessness and homelessness in the UK.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
28 June 2023 Wednesday 11:00
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Prince William inherits Lady Di's fight against homelessness

At the risk of highlighting the over-accommodation of the British royal family, the Prince of Wales this week launched a new initiative, called Homewards, which aims to end to the problem of homelessness and homelessness in the UK.

With the project, Guillem defines the main cause that will defend this new stage as Prince of Wales. And, for this reason, it has drawn up a five-year action plan in which it will urge companies, organizations and local individuals to join forces and develop "tailor-made" maneuvers to address the social problem.

The humanitarian concern catches the prince off guard, as the mother, Princess Diana, already devoted efforts to the cause and made the children aware of it. It was in 1993 that Lady Di took William and Henry to visit a homeless shelter in London. Guillem recalled this at the beginning of the year: "My mother presented me with the cause of the lack of housing from a very young age, and I am very happy that she did."

He also assured that he is thinking about the best time to do the same with the children, princes Jordi (9), Carlota (8) and Lluís (5), despite the fact that it is already a topic he wanted to talk to them about. “When we were in London and we were driving from one side to the other, we used to see people sitting outside supermarkets and we would talk about it. He said to the children: 'Why are they there? What is happening?'".

For Guillem, it is very important that the children grow up knowing what reality is: "Some of us are very lucky, some of us need a little help and some of us have to do a little more where we can to help others improve their lives".

William, who turned 41 on June 21, began after the death of his grandmother, Elizabeth II, a new stage as the heir to the British crown, a position that carries more responsibilities and more power of action

William is now the beneficiary of the duchy of Cornwall, a title linked to the British heir who, in turn, has attached ownership of a total of 526 square kilometers of land in the United Kingdom. And so, although there is still nothing official, the prince is looking for ways that some of the different buildings or plots within the estate can be used to alleviate the situation of the homeless, as published by The Telegraph in december

It is clear that, for him, the cause means much more than exchanging handshakes in exchange for funding. It was December 2009 when Guillem slept on the streets of London to raise awareness and raise funds for the homeless. "I was very impressed by the people I met and the difficulties they suffer. I grew up in a palace, and to see the other side, where others face such great challenges, was a very powerful thing to see when I was young,” he said then about the experience.

Guillem faced a controversy last summer for moving to another royal residence a few months before his grandmother's death. The renovation of Adelaide Cottage, a country estate near Windsor Castle, where he currently lives with his family, cost the British exchequer millions. It wouldn't have caused a stir if it weren't for the fact that a decade earlier, when he got married, the also millionaire renovation of apartment 1A of Kensington Palace, the former home, was justified by referring to the fact that the prince would use it during decades, but in the end it hasn't been like that.

The last few years have not been easy for Guillem in the family sphere either. He has had to deal with the change of status in the family, the escape to the United States and the revelations of his brother and the unfounded rumors of infidelity to Princess Catherine of Wales, from which he has not returned talk, as everything points to the fact that it was a tabloid invention.