We heard months ago that Prince William was “working” on a documentary about homelessness in the UK. Most people just rolled their eyes at the news, because A) William loves to copy his brother but he always half-asses it and B) William’s documentaries are always terrible. It’s been lost to history, but William tried to make an environmentalist documentary in 2020 called Prince William: A Planet For Us All, the purpose of which was summed up by this quote from Huevo: “Someone has to put their head above the parapet and say, ‘I care about this’…” He made a documentary about his declaration of keenness. Well, it sounds like William’s homeless documentary will be in the same vein. Someone had to put their head above the parapet and say that they are keen about homelessness.
Prince William is sharing an up-close look at his advocacy work for homeless people in a new documentary. On Saturday, Oct. 5, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official X (formerly Twitter) account shared a preview clip of the upcoming documentary, called Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, in which William, 42, speaks candidly about why he is passionate about the issue.
“I think it’s really important that we can try and change and tackle the narrative around homelessness,” he says. “We see it every day in our lives. That’s something I want to challenge.”
The two-part documentary will follow William as he meets a fire chief and a former homeless man, the Independent reported. It will also showcase the work the Prince of Wales has done with his Homewards project, which he launched in 2023 with the goal to make homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated.”
“Over the past year, we have spent time following Prince William and The Royal Foundation through the first year of the Homewards program. We’ve heard some incredibly moving stories from people across the country facing homelessness,” the documentary’s director, Leo Burley, said of the project when it was first announced in July.
“From street homelessness in Newport, to families living in temporary accommodation in Sheffield, and youth homelessness in Aberdeen, the documentary paints a picture of homelessness across the U.K. today, working with many people who never expected to experience life without a place to call home,” Burley continued. “Everyone we’ve filmed with has welcomed the spotlight that Prince William and Homewards are placing on the U.K.’s homelessness crisis.”
I’m including the little video below. I’ve said before that it’s not even that I disagree with William on the issue of homelessness. I actually think the whole idea of William using Royal Foundation money to target homelessness on a local level is smart. But the issue is with William and how he centers himself in this work, and how badly he communicates his message. Homewards should have been communicated as: we’re doing this pilot program to target homelessness at a very local level in several cities, here’s the program and here’s transparency on what we’re doing. Instead, William wandered around, telling people that he’s the savior of homelessness and he’s a thought-leader on the issue and that he’s going to “solve” these issues and by the way, here’s some extra bureaucracy we’re implementing attached to the relative pittance we’re giving at the local level. There’s also an issue with William’s extreme privilege. William is utterly unable to acknowledge that he’s a man with multiple homes AND a vast real estate network, and that he could be doing more, and that he comes across as tone deaf all of the time.
Prince William: We Can End Homelessness
🎬 Coming soon to @ITV and @ITVX pic.twitter.com/Lvj6M3hi1J
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) October 5, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, sporting a beard, speaks with serving graduats following the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Air Force (RAF) College in Cranwell, near Sleaford, eastern England, on September 12, 2024. Cadets have undergone up to 24 weeks of intensive training, which prepares them with the skills and knowledge required to set the foundations for a successful career in the RAF.,Image: 907014653, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: OLI SCARFF / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales arrives for a visit to Swiss Valley Community Primary School in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, to meet pupils who took part in the 2024 Urdd Eisteddfod Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Llanelli, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales meets with parade executives after attending Sovereign’s Parade on behalf of King Charles III, at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, Lincolnshire Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 11 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales , known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, as he meets workers from the homelessness sector during a visit to Shelter Scotland in Aberdeen, to hear more about the services they offer supporting people who are homeless or on the brink of losing the roof over their head, and meet those they have helped Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Aberdeen, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, during a ‘Thank You’ event hosted by Homewards Aberdeen for workers from across the city’s homelessness sector Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Aberdeen, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales speaks with Olympians and Paralympians Adam Peaty (second right), Tom Dean (left), Maisie Summers-Newton (right), and Louise Fiddes (second left) during a visit to Birtley Community Pool in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, to celebrate its reopening and highlight the importance of having access to swimming Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Birtley, United Kingdom When: 03 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales waves upon his arrival to visit Birtley Community Pool in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, to celebrate its reopening and highlight the importance of having access to swimming Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Birtley, United Kingdom When: 03 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales speaks with British Paralympian Louise Fiddes (left) and British Olympian Tom Dean (centre) during a visit to Birtley Community Pool in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, to celebrate its reopening and highlight the importance of having access to swimming Featuring: Tom Dean, William, Prince of Wales Where: Birtley, United Kingdom When: 02 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales takes part in a round table discussion during a visit to Birtley Community Pool in Birtley, Tyne and Wear, to celebrate its reopening and highlight the importance of having access to swimming Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Birtley, United Kingdom When: 02 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Did you set the video to have that as the still image that starts it off did they? Because YIKES. If that’s the official release then the incompetence surrounding WanK is clearly highly contagious.
Yeah that first still looks like a Kaiser special, which is funny when she does it because she’s making fun of him not so much when it’s supposed to be a serious documentary. Also I try to look at stuff that they do evenly, and I said before on it’s face earthshot is a good idea. That being said there’s just something so unappealingly smug about him that he just can’t tamp down. He doesn’t seem approachable at all. Even something as simple as asking where to look just comes across rudely. Very special talent he has there.
He probably thinks he looks noble
Same reaction to the starting image of the video, SarahCS. Yikes! Someone on the KP team hates him.
I haven’t watched the video—I can’t right now. However, does he go into the weeds on mental health, for instance (a former cause he was an expert in years ago)? Poverty? Taxation? Addiction? Solving homelessness is complex and building homes, while certainly helpful, root causes need to be addressed. And those causes are not going to keep W politically neutral if hd wants to solve this. How much homelessness has he already lessened since he started with this cause?
@ML oh lololol. Don’t worry. The clip is literally quoted in the article: ““I think it’s really important that we can try and change and tackle the narrative around homelessness,” he says. “We see it every day in our lives. That’s something I want to challenge.””
That’s all the clip says. It’s all about William deciding this is important so he’s going to “challenge” it from his palace.
I also doubt he’s going to talk about things like cost of living rising, how expensive housing can be in cities like London, etc.
Becks1, Good grief, that was a very brief video that said absolutely nothing! If I had seen your post first, I could have been spared that fluff.
It really boggles my mind that these royals are so bad at this!
Right?? you thought there was going to be more to the trailer, didn’t you?
But nope. Just william talking about how he’s challenging homelessness by…..sitting in a chair with an interviewer, or something.
Yes – is that “eyes closed” or “peering down his nose”? Either way, he looks and sounds feckless.
The arrogance is breathtaking. The idea he can spearhead any “program” that will handle homelessness is laughable. He has no idea of the existential danger we are in because of AI. It is estimated 30% or 400 to 800 million people in the world will lose their jobs due to Artificial Intelligence by 2030. In the coming years, we are going to have more homelessness than less. His few hours a year attention or pocket change “donation” to it is not going to make a dent. Sit down and STFU!
Yikes is right. The messaging from this clip,imo, is that William is tired of seeing homeless people. Mr. Smugface is tired and bored. LET’S CHANGE THE NARRATIVE. wtf
nothing + nothing=William
William can just posture and preach. He cannot end homelessness . He just talks about the plight of the homeless and looks concerned but he has helicopters and limos to take him to one of his mansions. He just imo comes across as pompous.
Notice that these documentaries always start with “Prince William:……” It’s never even “Homewards: A Conversation about Homelessness with Prince William.” His name is first, always.
They include the moment where he points at someone and says he’s gonna be looking at him, which doesn’t come off as charming or cool, but rather arrogant and too busy to take his time.
He had one question and doesn’t even answer it: where does this passion for the subject come from? Why this?
His answer: I want to change the narrative about homelessness.
1. We still don’t know why he chose this.
2. He answers he wants to change the narrative around homelessness, not end it.
For social workers counselors etc it is more than a narrative it us real action. William does not have a clue.
It gives me vibes of “early years are important “…
Why does that clip open up with him being sassy and sneering toward the interviewer? Jeez. Does he think that’s charming?
Huevo ignores the complexities. Some need therapy for post traumatic stress or need medications and counseling. It’s not that simple and huevo saying he can end homelessness is rather pompous . And insulting to those do the work and have,real experience helping the homeless.
Understanding complexities takes work. Instead of reinventing the wheel, he could be supporting existing organizations.
Wank must mean he sees homeless in his life as it blocks his view on his way from one palace to the other . He probably sits there in his Bentley and cries oh how I wish these homeless people would stop obstructing my view as I try to look out at all that is mine . It’s mine do you hear me , and you are blocking it.
He actually said he pointed out the homeless to his children when he was on a school run.
Hey kids are you seeing all this blight?
Oh the picture of Peg above where the video is beginning looks like he is taking a page out of Joey’s book (from friends) and is doing smell the fart acting lol. He is such a condescending a** about this and has centered himself about this cause. Harry is so much better at doing these things because he actually cares about the people and not himself.
Looking at that video and how scrawny he looks now you get the sense that he’s not alright
Angry old Muppet. He’s got arrogance and contempt oozing out of every pore.
This clip is awful not just because of his empty words about homelessness but for his interaction with the interviewer. If this is how he acts around the office then I think we’ve found the actual bully at KP.
Bet it is. He’s a pointer, all right.
This guy is so ViLe 😡 Ugh 😫
He says : “I think it’s really important that we can try and change and tackle the narrative around homelessness,” It’s always talk, talk, talk, and learning, and trying, never any actual actions. What exactly is the narrative, why is it wrong or right, and what steps are being taken to achieve what ends? And will changing and tackling the narrative actually do anything to reduce homelessness? I seem to remember a comment from Margaret Thatcher that many politicians think that talking about something equates to action and solving a problem, that because they are talking about it, they are doing something. Et tu, William?
Instead of trying to change the narrative around homelessness, he and his father could return their respective duchies to the government. Each duchy earns over £20m a year which would go a significant way towards tackling homelessness.
Agree.
This approach reminds me of Kate’s “Arly Yeahs” – a royal pointing out the obvious to people who already know about it.
That’s really how it feels. It’s highlighting obvious things. Which fine, whatever. I hope someone gets something out of it somewhere for all the money that’s being spent.
I guess it depends on the audience. People who work in this sector are obviously light years ahead of him. The there is growing awareness with the general public that homelessness is complex and happens to all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. I haven’t watched to clip (sorry, I can’t) but I would say the people who need to hear this are most of the attendees at the recent tory party conference who were busy cheering the anti-green energy speeches and will absolutely believe that homelessness is a ‘lifestyle choice’. But he’s not going to persuade them.
Exactly.
Kate – early years are important. Okay, and?
William – homelessness is bad. Okay, and?
The issue with both of these causes is that there IS a way to address them that doesn’t make the Waleses seem tone deaf, uninspired and lazy – like Kaiser laid out, Homewards could have been presented at this pilot program, “lets see what difference this makes on a micro level, lets see what changes need to be made, lets see if this could work on a bigger level.” Instead it was WILLIAM IS HERE TO END HOMELESSNESS!!!!!
And the way he always centers himself in these causes is very problematic – Prince William – a Planet for Us All. Prince William – we can end homelessness. I mean……yes Harry and Meghan titled their docuseries “harry and meghan” but that’s because it was literally about them.
It’s not Prince Harry: Polo, the sport of kings! or Prince Harry: He really IS the Heart of Invictus.
The entitlement and privilege and just……the BUBBLE that he lives in…..its all so obvious here.
But he is getting roasted on X so there’s that, lol.
The RF already has the patronage system – William could use that template for bringing together existing organizations that work with homelessness. They do the work and he travels around telling everyone how important it is.
Eurydice @ ,that was my impression too!
I won’t watch the video but they should have picked a different still for that tweet – him sitting there with his eyes closed looking smug and arrogant is NOT the vibe they want to go with for this subject.
A whole lot of words to say nothing. No indication of what can be done to change homelessness, just the narrative of how we speak of it. What? Come again. If he doesn’t touch on the psychological issues many homeless face, the extremely high cost of renting, much less owning properties, the lack of affordable houses, then he isn’t doing a thing except blowing hot air.
Someone with 4(5?) homes shouldn’t really talk about homelessness unless it’s letting people occupy his homes standing empty.
Esp when he wants more bugger homes such as Royal Lodge.
And I’m laughing so hard at the counter argument to that on X which is “he doesn’t OWN all those homes, some are crown property!!!!”
Like I said above….okay, and?
And they try hard with that project where a few homes are being built on the duchy but they are not affordable housing units at all.
Lol, like who exactly is the crown? Ok, so now he’s one step away, but once that crown is on his head, then what will be the excuse?
With Willi’s and Kate’s projects, Early Year, Earthshot and now Homewards, it always sounds if Willi and Kate reinvent the wheel. They are the saviours who only can solve the problem. People have addressed and researched these issues and their complexity before .I hope Willi looked at other projects especially in Scandinavian countries how to tackle homelessness.
Willi and Kate are supposedly apolitical but if you want to talk about the importance of early child development you need to talk about child poverty such as lack of food, mental health of parents and child, unsuitable housing etc. and how this affects child development. And the same is with Homeward. If you wan to tackle homelessness you need to talk about causes, individual such as trauma, mental health or addiction, lack of housing support but also the lack of protection of renters in the private sector.
As somebody above said the tilte begins with ” Prince William…..”. It puts him in the centre not his cause.
The first thing to fix in the UK is the No-fault Eviction. Any landlord can evict you after 6 months, even if you pay your rent, all your bills and are a model tenant.
Hundred of us are in this category. I’ve been for 17 months, and can’t find anything to rent because of the family unit: I’m a 72-yo pensioner with an autistic and disabled biracial 35-yo son. I was a school teacher, meaning little money, just enough to pay our bills. On top of everything we are foreigners in not just Tory Land, but Farage land of the far-right. Again, the UK is probably the only democratic country where renters paying their rent can be kicked out through no fault of them.
It would be too long to explain what it’s like to live in a temporary accommodation. Briefly, for £900/month, more than $1,000/month, we have bunk beds in a room where there wasn’t even a kettle to make tea, no access to a kitchen & are prohibited from using the lounge or any other spaces. To sit, we have our beds, no access to a table. My son eats on the floor. I’ve checked, and this is the way it is for all people who leave in temporary accommodation, be they homeless or refugees.
Medical studies show that because of lack of space, walking for babies is delayed because they don’t have the space. Moreover they skip the crawling stage. The toll of living so is huge, both on physical and mental health. There’s a guy here, working full-time, originally from Sri-Lanka who has been here for 4 years! There’re very few people with drugs or alcohol issues. Most look like regular people. The cost is huge as we pay storage on top of the rent.
There are hundreds of thousands of families who have ended up homeless because of Section 21: A landlord doesn’t need a reason to evict you. Why doesn’t William challenge this?
I am so, so sorry that you, your son, and other renters are being treated so disgracefully. That’s heartbreaking. Your love for your son, and your compassion for other people in the same boat, really comes through.
I hope somehow you will find stable, decent housing soon. I hope Labour will find a way to get everyone into housing. A wealthy country needn’t allow this to happen.
Oh my goodness, Tennyson! That’s awful! No-fault eviction??? I never heard of such a thing. I am so sorry you & your son are in that position. Then again, when I was a kid, the owners of the house we were renting sold their big farmhouse & decided they wanted this smaller house to live in, so we had to move. Huh. Sorta sounds like ‘no-fault eviction’ at that, although I bet my folks got plenty of notice.
William should have stuck with environmental issues because those can be shoved aside with a lot of talking. The problem with homelessness is that people need shelter immediately and can’t wait for people to just talk about it for years.
William is also too dumb to realize that homeless exists because some people have too large of a share of resources compared to others, including and especially his family with their multiple homes and palaces that they get taxpayer money to support.
Homelessness is also the function of failed government policy and while it is an issue around the world, this family is supposed to not be political. There is no way solving this issue won’t involve some level of government policy for a longer lasting solution.
Whoever surrounds him isn’t telling him how he will forever be a target of derision taking on this issue because he personally has access to more homes than most people will ever have in their lifetimes. The comments under the ITV tweet advertising this are ripping him apart.
Just because the Uk print media is afraid to make real comments doesn’t mean that most don’t think this is a complete joke.
Seeing a lot of non royal watchers people drag William about this on Twitter. They are saying why don’t we cut money that goes to the BRF & build more homes or why doesn’t William give up his many homes
I thought his mission was to end homelessness in 5 years now it seems to be change perception of homelessness 🥴.
This is a topic that requires a political solution ultimately so how he could be useful is donating, doing more fundraising for charities like Centrepoint, Shelter, help with public awareness campaigns. I have a friend who suddenly lost her job & then her landlord evicted her & her housemates & it is a reminder how easy it is to become homeless & how little advice/support the local authorities provide. She said that Shelter has been wonderful with advising on her rights & a public awareness campaign with these charities on things like rights, how to access certain services is what William could actually do to be helpful. But his need to center himself instead of highlighting others & providing practical support is why he doesn’t move the needle
I’m just thinking of Kate’s play dough animation- how much was spent on that (it was in cinemas)& what tangible results did that clip bring even in terms of early years awareness? Kate & William have the resource & platform to do so much more but it’s about PR & their own image only for them.
I thought of that little playdough animation, too, @Britguest. It was cute, but it didn’t give us any sense of new information, or any future direction for the research to go next? Years later, we are still waiting for that. It was like an introduction to an introduction of Early Years 101. I’m getting the same vibe from this documentary, unfortunately.
You raise really good points @ABritGuest, and it makes me think of a few questions no one has really answered (or even asked) about William and his “work”:
–William (as evidenced by his many articles quoting friends, his overall attitude etc) uses any criticism of his efforts in Royal “work” as an excuse to check out. You can almost feel the contempt: “Well if you won’t appreciate my fabulousness then I’ll just go be a Zoom king/do the bare minimum/”concentrate on a fewer number of projects” and on and on and on. So if any of this roasting he’s getting reaches his ears, which I doubt but if it is….he will fling his toys out of the pram and just keep doing as little as possible. How long can this last?
–As I understand it, mental illness/poor mental health is a leading cause of homelessness. Prince William: I Am For Mental Health As Long As It Only Involves Chatting With Mates and Excludes Harry, you would think that he or someone in his office would connect the dots between these two missions, homelessness and mental health. But there’s nothing. Only more “bringing a spotlight” and “raising awareness” blather like everything else he and Kate do. When will criticism turn into reducing funding for the RF?
–Why are William and Kate so bad at fundraising? You rarely hear about them hosting dinners or other events to fundraise for either their Foundation or other charities. They did a sprinkling in their early years of marriage but nothing on the level that say Charles did (despite his side business of bags of cash). William and Kate are very shallow and love being feted and bringing out the fancy dress, so why don’t they do more galas? Why is the Royal Foundation so lowly funded after so many years?
@lady esther; paragraph #3 is true. Mental health and mental illness needs to be addressed as the leading cause of homelessness. Instead of building homes why not in – patient treatment centers and staff them properly. Now that would be a major investment that could attract donors but William could provide the seed money that would fund it.
Just imagine all those hundreds of millions provided by the British taxpayers going down the drain that is otherwise known as the RF.
Even if it’s not the half billion put out there by the campaigners who want to abolish the monarchy, but just, let’s say, £ 200 million annually — how many houses and schools could be built with that.
Why do the RF still think they’re entitled to that pay rise of £ 45 million, why do people actually defend the RF, making excuses for supporting these grifters by saying how the RF somehow deserves this, how these useless do-nothings are actually better than the rest of us?
As long as this servile mindset persists, supported by the British gutter press, the problems of homelessness or e.g. access to education won’t be solved.
William could have paid tribute to his mother in answer to the first question because it was Diana who took him on visits to The Passage. Interesting choice of his not to honour her memory by acknowledging that she cared deeply for the vulnerable.
That was my thought, too & I betya that’s what the interview thought.
He wants to change the narrative about homelessness: that’s something he wants to change and challenge. I thought he wanted to eradicate homelessness, not talk about how it is being talked about. It’s a shame that the world isn’t sycophantic like his former cocoon where he grew up has been, then he wouldn’t have had to crawl out of one of his homes to make this “documentary” to assuage the demands of his hubris.
Just like Kate & her raising awareness of the importance of 0-5 years in a kid’s life. Raise awareness of the obvious, change the ideas/words around homelessness. Zero actions actually required of either of them. Not exactly value for dollar, these two.
I’ll add my voice. Changing the narrative doesn’t mean that a single thing is necessarily being done to help a single person who is homeless. I must say that William sitting smugly in a comfortable chair and his arrogant attitude toward the interviewer just annoy me. It seems the Wales are going to be a video couple. Who else has put out so many videos? One just keeps pointing out that early years is important, and the other just wants to change the narrative of homelessness. What does that even mean? If you are generous in interpreting it, it may sound like he wants to help the homeless, to change what happens to them, but how is he going to do that? One obvious focus could be on the relationship between homelessness and mental health in some cases. Is mental health still one of his areas of interest? He is just not a serious person, and doesn’t have a clue. Neither do his advisors it seems. Mind you, even if he had advisors with some vision, they still have to try to animate a rag doll to bring it to life.
Prepare the five-question survey and pie chart graphically revealing that the homeless are, in fact, without a home.
You and your ilk have taken too little care of this, Peggy. Take your pomp and gilded carriages, expose yourself to feel what the homeless feel, that you may shake the superflux to them, and show the heavens more just. (With apologies to King Lear)
Oof, that’s bad! It starts with William looking his most arrogant, then he doesn’t even ask the question posed–why is this so important to him? I was fully expecting, and I bet the questioner was as well, some reference to Diana. Nope.
this institution of monarchy is all about who was born first and who will sit on the throne next-it doesn’t matter whether his plan for homelessness does any good-it is mouthing something to let the masses know his thoughts about the subject-to solve this problem will take more than getting housing-drug abuse, alcoholism, and no work skills should be apart of it-he needs to roll up sleeves and show he is serious-this problem of the homeless is very complicated and will take well-rounded approach to make a dent in this problem-mouthing will not solve this problem neither will wishing and hoping it will go away.
“Over the past year, we have spent time following Prince William and The Royal Foundation through the first year of the Homewards program.”
Huh? Didn’t Wills spend 6 months of that year doing the school run and not working a lot because his wife is ill and he had to be there for her?
No one takes this man seriously. This is anther pledge that will go no where, similar to his pledge of ending the wars in the Middle East.
So the poster boy for income inequality is going to take time out from his vacation schedule explain how to end homelessness caused by poverty, all while shuttling between his numerous homes and palaces? Well ok! Solved!