Prince William is inspired by Princess Diana for charity initiative

Prince William explained how his late mother, Princess Dianainspired his latest charitable initiative.

“I took inspiration and guidance from what my mother did, especially with the homeless,” said William, 42, in the trailer for his upcoming ITV documentary, Prince William: We can end homelessness.

The 30-second clip, released on Sunday, October 13, showed William wearing an apron while visiting a homeless shelter. In a voiceover, the Prince of Wales explained his goal of addressing homelessness in the United Kingdom (the documentary’s release date has not yet been confirmed).

“I slowly tried to figure out, ‘What can I bring to the role and the platform that I have?’” William said in the trailer.

William launched the Homewards project in 2023 with the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Royal Foundation. Homewards aims to make homelessness “rare, brief and non-repeating” with a five-year, locally-led programme.

Before her death, Diana made homelessness a forefront of her charitable initiatives, serving as a patron of Centrepoint, a charity for homeless youth in the UK (Diana died aged 36 in a car accident in August 1997).

As children, William and Prince Harry They often accompanied their mother to charities focused on the homeless. Since then, the two princes have continued their mother’s legacy of charitable initiatives.

While William focused on eradicating homelessness in the UK, his younger brother joined The HALO Trust and literally followed in Diana’s footsteps during a trip to Angola in 2019.

Diana traveled to the country in 1997 and walked through a minefield. Harry did the same when he made his own trip decades later. Landmines in Angola are an increasingly serious problem, which Harry and the HALO Trust aim to solve.

“A lot has changed in my life and in the world since 2019, when I visited (Angola) for the first time. In these five years, I became a father for the second time,” he said in a speech at the end of last month, referring to his 3-year-old daughter Lilibet. (He and wife Meghan Markle they also share 5-year-old son Archie.)

“While it’s not necessary for children to have an interest in the future of our planet, I know my mother would be horrified if anyone’s children or grandchildren lived on a world still infested with mines,” Harry continued, noting that his walk seemed different from the that Diana gave. (“The Diana Tree” now marks the spot where the late royal family member was photographed in the 1990s.)

“As you know, the work of the HALO Trust in Angola meant a lot to my mother, carrying on her legacy is a responsibility I take very seriously and I think we all know how much she would like us to finish this particular work,” Harry added during his speech. “We are all here because we are a group of True Believers fighting for a mine-free world.”