Prince William once slept on London streets, a night that changed his mission

Long before launching his nationwide Homewards initiative, Prince William made a bold move that still defines his mission: he secretly slept out on London’s streets with Centrepoint CEO Seyi Obakin back in 2009. 

The then-new patron wanted the unfiltered reality. “He didn’t want to be an ornamental patron,” Obakin recalls, he wanted to feel what young people feel when they have nowhere to go.

Two decades on, insiders say that night set the tone for everything that followed. Inspired by Princess Diana’s lessons to “see life beyond palace walls,” William has kept his work hands-on. 

Mick Clarke of The Passage says the Prince quietly turned up three times in four weeks during COVID to prep, cook and even deliver meals, often staying far longer than scheduled. 

“People experiencing homelessness can spot authenticity,” Clarke adds. “With William, what you see is what you get.”

Now in year two of Homewards, his five-year plan to make homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated”, William is pulling leaders, charities and communities together across six UK regions. 

Even former PM Gordon Brown says the Prince is “changing people’s view of what can be done.”

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