Duke extends family link with charity for homeless
WHEN the Duke of Cambridge visited with his mother at the age of 11, he said it taught him the values of respect, dignity and kindness to the vulnerable that he has carried with him ever since.
As he returned as a 36-year-old father-of-three yesterday, the Duke made official his lifelong relationship with homelessness charity The Passage, as he became its patron. In doing so, he honoured his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who made the cause of homeless people a cornerstone of her charity work.
She took the young Princes William and Harry with her to visit The Passage, and Kensington Palace yesterday published a photograph of the family visit, as well as a 1993 guest book signed “William”.
After being announced as patron, the Duke tied on an apron to help dish up lunch for the charity’s homeless clients, chopping carrots with a bread knife to make himself useful as he joked: “This isn’t going to go well.”
Speaking of his concern about the difficulties faced by rough sleepers during recent cold weather, he said: “I always worry when I hear the snow forecast in London.”
The charity, which has helped more than 130,000 people over almost 40 years, has seen a 50 per cent rise in the number of needy clients since last year and now serves 150 lunches every day.
Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge yesterday spoke at the Mental Health in Education conference in London, which aims to promote mental health training in schools.
The Duchess said: “I was very naive myself as a parent, of really just how important particularly the early years are for children’s futures. And how critical it is that we get it right.”