Prince William said he tells his children about homelessness on the school run – like Princess Diana did when he was young.
Speaking in a new ITV documentary, The Prince of Wales said that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have asked him why people are sleeping rough while being taken to school.
He said: “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.”
The prince also told ITV that Diana would talk to them about homelessness when he and Prince Harry were children.
“When you are that small you are just curious and trying to work out what’s going on,” he said.
“You ask the question ‘why are they sitting there?’ My mother would talk to us a bit about why they were there and it definitely made a really big impact.”
Image: Prince William visited homelessness charities and shelters with Princess Diana as a child. Pic: The Passage
Filmed over the last year, the documentary follows William and his Homewards initiative, which aims to eradicate homelessness and make it “rare, brief and unrepeated”.
The royal launched the five-year scheme in June 2023, with six locations – Newport, Lambeth, Aberdeen, Belfast, Sheffield, and Dorset’s Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch – chosen for the initiative.
Advertisement
William also said in the documentary: “There has to be a better way than just accepting that homelessness is there and we just live with it. I don’t believe that. I won’t accept that.”
Where his deeply held conviction to help the homeless began
They are pictures that give an insight into a side of Prince William’s very public childhood that the world didn’t see at the time.
The photos of him alongside his mother at The Passage only released now serve to remind us of where that deeply held conviction to try to do something about homelessness all began.
They form part of a two-part documentary you’ll get to see this week.
Billed as showing Prince William as you’ve never seen him before, I’ve watched it and I’m not sure it quite lives up to that hype – but maybe that’s because I’ve been fortunate enough to watch him on so many engagements before, to see how he listens and empathises with people especially on issues like this.
What the programme does do is bring to a prime-time audience some heartbreaking stories of what homelessness looks like in 2024.
And for that reason, the palace and the prince will see it as a success for his Homewards project.
For the first time, he also fronts up about why he feels he can make a difference, despite his privileged royal life.
You see how much his outlook was shaped by his mother in those early years of his life, but also how, like his father, he wants to make sure his time as heir really counts.
In another clip from the documentary, the prince also defended his work trying to tackle homelessness despite criticism for being a member of the Royal Family.
Anti-monarchy campaigners Republic previously suggested his involvement in the issue was at odds with his privileged position and the number of properties that he has access to as a royal.
William said he comes “with no other agenda than desperately trying to help people who are in need”, and added he sees the initiative as “part of my role”.
Prince William: We Can End Homelessness airs on 30 and 31 October at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX, STV and STV Player.
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Image: Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Image: Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Image: Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
Roman Lavrynovych appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday and was remanded in custody.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command led the investigation because of the connections to the prime minister.
Emergency services were called to a fire in the early hours of Monday at a house in Kentish Town, north London, where Sir Keir lived with his family before the election.