Council boss wants homeless moved before royal wedding
LONDON — The leader of the council in Windsor, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are due to marry on May 19, has called for beggars and homeless people to be removed from its streets ahead of the wedding.
Borough council leader Simon Dudley wrote on Twitter over Christmas about the need to clean up the well-to-do town’s streets. He then wrote to police and British Prime Minister Theresa May suggesting action be taken to reduce the presence of beggars and the homeless.
Dudley referred to an “epidemic” of homelessness and vagrancy in the Berkshire town, 32 kilometres west of London, and suggested many of the people begging in the town are not really homeless. The situation presents a beautiful town in an unfavourable light, Dudley said.
Homeless charities reacted angrily Thursday to Dudley’s call. The charities rejected the assertion that the homeless in Windsor are living on the streets by choice.
Greg Beales, a spokesman for one charity, Shelter, said people sleeping on the streets are in desperate need of help, particularly in winter, when the weather can be dangerously cold. “Stigmatizing or punishing them is totally counter-productive,” he said.
The wedding will be held at Windsor Castle. It is expected to draw thousands of extra visitors to the picturesque riverside town that is already popular with international tourists..
Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld wrote on his website that he was “somewhat surprised” that the letter addressed to him had been released publicly before it was sent to him.
He said supporting the vulnerable, including the homeless, is a police priority.
Harry and Markle will be wed on the closed-off castle grounds, but have said they want the public to be involved to some degree. Harry has supported several events in aid of the homeless.