Prince William champions cause close to his heart on Princess Diana’s birthday – as Meghan Markle’s set to release her wine

The Prince of Wales has met with Steven Bartlett and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to mark the second anniversary of his Homewards initiative – as Meghan Markle is set to launch her new wine. 

William, 43, is paying a visit to Sheffield today, which marks what would have been his mother Princess Diana‘s 64th birthday. 

William revealed he is teaming up with former Labour leader Brown to expand his mission to end homelessness for thousands of people ‘screwed by society’ – announcing a new partnership with the politician’s Multibank charity, which provides necessities such as toiletries, bedding and clothes for people rehoused after a period of homelessness.

Appearing on a panel together, William appeared to laugh and joke with the former PM while also reflecting on the organisation’s progress. 

It’s certainly a profound meeting for the royal, as Diana took William and his brother Harry to homelessness shelters when they were children. 

Since then, he has been inspired to continue his work in her memory, becoming patron of organisations including Centrepoint and The Passage. 

In a documentary with ITV last year, William made a rare reference to his time with his mother before her death in 1997 – and admitted she would this his quest to eradicate homelessness is ‘mad’. 

In the first episode of the two-part programme, the royal said: ‘When I was very small, my mother started talking about homelessness, much like I do with my children now on the school run.’

Princess Diana would tell her eldest son why people were there and he said ‘it definitely had a big impact’. 

July 1 will also mark an important day for Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle, who is set to release her first ever wine with her lifestyle brand, As ever. 

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, announced last month that she would be releasing a Napa Valley rosé wine – her first foray into the wine market. 

The product will be sourced from the famous region of California, up the west coast from her Montecito mansion.

Announcing new items in her collection – which also included orange blossom honey and apricot spread – Meghan said: ‘We are pleased to share that many favourites from our debut As Ever collection are back – and, we’ve added something new. We hope you find some special treats that bring extra joy to you and your loved ones.’

Meanwhile, the heir to the throne is celebrating two years of Homewards, part of his ambitious plan to end homelessness. 

William said today: ‘Partnership is the key in everything that Homewards stands for. I can tell you very clearly it’s a team game.

‘Nothing happens without us all working together and doing things properly.

‘It’s very difficult for the government, it’s difficult for businesses, it’s difficult for the charity sector, partnerships, communities, whatever it is, the whole system gels when it works together.

‘And for me I’ve already seen the power of partnerships over the last couple of years in terms of seeing the public sector and private sector working together and what has struck me is that the private sector really feel like they belong her with Homewards.

‘It’s about bringing as many people into the equation as possible, we’ve all got a part to play and if we all pull on those strings we can make a difference.

‘Hope is very important. I feel less hopeful when I’m doing something things by myself. I think as human beings we all want to feel connected and I always think the greatest impact is when we work together.’

Mr Brown congratulated the prince on the charity’s progress since its inception in 2023, adding: ‘Progress is all about moving forwards together. We are in the business of helping anyone in need. As the Prince of Wales said, it is all about hope, potential and talent that can be filled.’

William added that Homewards’ role in helping people through a mixture of homelessness problems, including getting off the streets or out of temporary accommodation to give them their own place to live, was centred on ‘calming down the chaos’ in their lives.

He said: ‘Homelessness is about housing, but it’s not just about housing. We have to ask people their problems, find out what has brought them to such a situation. 

‘And I’ve seen myself when you can help them calming down chaos in their lives, it’s such an important part and we take it for granted, but it’s such a huge moment to have that stability.

‘I love the idea that we are creating a model that others can copy, because there’s no point creating something brand new that no one can follow.’

William said one strand of the project which was already seeing results is the ’employment pathway’, helping those affected by homelessness to find jobs.

He added: ‘It’s been really important to put the whole jigsaw together because it doesn’t matter how many houses you provide, people won’t stay in them and they won’t feel safe in them.

‘That’s what I love about the employment pathway, because many of these people have found themselves for many reasons not of their own making, outside of society.

‘To get them back into society you have to give them the skill set to do that and employment is one of those things where if you can’t find a job, you don’t get skills and you don’t have any skills because you’re at an age when you’re already past your education or training opportunities, you are literally screwed by society unless somebody comes along says I’ll give you a chance and an opportunity and if we are going to sit back and wait for that to happen, it’s going to take a very long time to sort this out.’

As the programme moves into ‘delivery mode’ Homewards today unveiled a new strand of work focused on early intervention to tackle the root causes of homelessness at a school in Sheffield.

The new initiative surveys young people to identify those who are at greater risk of homelessness and provides them with the support they and their families need at the earliest possible point.

‘Upstream’ is modelled on the Australian Geelong Project, which saw a 40 per cent reduction in youth homelessness and a 20 per cent reduction in the number of young people leaving school early.

After the panel, entrepreneur Stephen Bartlett, 32, praised the Prince for ‘changing attitudes to homelessness’ to help those caught in a cycle of being unable to find a place to live.

Bartlett who became an advocate for the programme last year, told how a recent trip with the Prince to Aberdeen ‘completely changed my perception’ of the issue.

He said: ‘If you’re aiming at the wrong target you’re never going to hit the bullseye and your solutions will be ineffective.

‘I came into this partnership thinking homelessness was an issue of housing but then I got to meet the young people at risk of homelessness and I was stunned into silence.

‘Everything they said were things I would have never thought, not that they couldn’t find jobs or a skills shortage, it was a myriad of different things such as confidence, family issues, mental health challenges, which just proves it’s a complicated issue.

‘In realising that it’s a complicated issue you need partners to come together which is what Homewards is trying to do. why we need partners to come to come together which has given me hope we can make a difference.’

Mr Brown said: I think he’s changing people’s views. He has shown his passion, his dedication and his commitment. I know he was influenced by his mother at a very early age but he really believes that we have to do something about the problems of people who for whatever reason are left behind and lose out, but where we can help we must.

‘I see this charity that he has created going from strength to strength and we are only at the beginning of what I think is going to be a very big success story.’

Later on Tuesday, William visited Meadowhead Secondary School – which has implemented Upstream – where he met with schoolchildren and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. 

For the past two years, Royal Foundation’s Homewards programme has set out to demonstrate ways to end homelessness and aims to make it ‘rare, brief and unrepeated’. 

Some 100 initiatives are in place across six locations around the UK, and 300 plus homes – a mixture of empty accommodation, private rentals and new builds – are forecast to be delivered through Homewards’ Innovative Housing Projects.

The first residents moved into flats in Aberdeen in March after Homewards brought together a local housing association, high street retailers and others to provide and furnish the property, and the first tenants in Sheffield are moving in this week.

The project has also launched a new early intervention initiative in schools to identify young people most at risk of homelessness and secured £3 million for Homewards locations from partners and coalition members.

This is in addition to £50 million available by Lloyds Banking Group to organisations tackling homelessness through low cost rentals.

Ahead of his visit, William released an open letter to the six participating areas – Sheffield, Newport, Aberdeen, Northern Ireland, Bournemouth and Christchurch and Poole – to commend their progress. 

The prince said: ‘There are now people who are no longer experiencing homelessness thanks to your tremendous efforts. I am immensely proud to say that your collective effort has already allowed us to achieve lasting impact.

‘After a year of convening, our second year has seen Homewards shift into delivery mode.’

He added: ‘Together, we are demonstrating tangible impact. I know this is a mammoth challenge and change won’t come overnight, but over the past year we’ve started to shift the dial and there are now people who are no longer experiencing homelessness thanks to your tremendous efforts.’ 

He described how creating long-term change was ‘complex and unpredictable’, however he added: ‘But I am confident we can lead and inspire understanding, empathy and optimism that homelessness can be ended.’ The prince ended his letter by signing it in his own handwriting: ‘Keep going! William’. 

William launched his Homewards programme, which aims to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms, in 2023. 

Initiatives vary from supporting at risk groups to ensure they do not become homeless in the first place, to freeing up housing through unique public/private partnerships.

The prince is also building low-cost rental on his own Duchy of Cornwall land.

William has been particularly personally keen to highlight the often deep-seated nature of the problem: homelessness doesn’t just mean rough-sleeping, but also thousands of young people and families ‘sofa surfing’ or living in substandard bed and breakfast accommodation.

But it is an issue that often doesn’t get much public or media attention, he says.

Liz Laurence, Homewards’ programme director, said: ‘We’re proud to say, as we head into our third year, that Homewards is the broadest collective effort working to prevent homelessness across the UK.’

Ms Laurence added: ‘We set out with a mission to demonstrate that together it’s possible to end homelessness, and I think we are really confident about where we are… We are starting really to see a difference on the ground.’

Polly Neate, former chief executive of Shelter and now an independent social policy commentator, said: ‘In our wider culture, as a country, we see homelessness as something that is inevitable, that we don’t really understand, that we feel powerless about doing anything about.

‘What Prince William and Homewards are doing, if you want to put it in a nutshell, is tackling that culture straight on and saying ‘This is not inevitable. This is preventable’.’