William grateful for his mum’s guidance
DIANA was determined to teach Prince William and Prince Harry about life in the real world. She wanted William to be a new kind of king, one full of compassion. In 1994, William aged 11 and Harry nine, were photographed attending The Passage homeless shelter in London – the second time they had visited.
It was one of many similar engagements for the boys.
“I want them to have an understanding of people’s emotions, people’s insecurities, people’s distress and people’s hopes and dreams,” Diana told TV interviewer Martin Bashir.
“She very much wanted to get us to see the rawness of real life,” William said in a 2012 interview.
“I can’t thank her enough for that.”
It had a profound effect on the two brothers. Last year, William revisited the centre and revealed the impact it had had on him.
“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,” he said.
Such were the lessons he learned, in 2009 he even slept rough overnight for the homeless charity Centrepoint, of which he is patron.
William’s quiet compassion is evident wherever he goes. He endeared himself to Australian bushfire survivors he met in 2010 and 2014 and flew in especially to meet flood victims in 2011.
This June, he showed grace and humility when, along with the Queen, he visited distraught survivors of the Grenfell Tower inferno in London.
With emotions high just three days after the tragedy, William, in the same spirit as his mother before him, hugged a weeping 78-year-old Fatima Jafari, who lost her husband, and promised one angry resident: “I will be back.”