The Prince of Wales helps serve Christmas lunch at homeless shelter

The Prince of Wales has helped served Christmas lunch at a homeless shelter run by a charity that he was introduced to by his mother.

William wore one of The Passage charity’s aprons as he joined the long line of volunteers serving food while chatting with attendees on Thursday.

He first visited the London-based homelessness charity more than 30 years ago with his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Footage, posted to the Waleses’ X account on Sunday, captured him hugging its head chef Claudette Hawkins and saying “come on birthday girl, happy birthday. I won’t ask you what birthday it is”.

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He laughed with Ms Hawkins and she later said “he was helping serve lunch for the clients today, their Christmas lunch”.

William appeared to be dishing out carrots and parsnips when he congratulated one client on getting engaged.

The man was wearing a Boston Celtics basketball team Christmas jumper and asked William “have you heard, I’m getting married?”

The Prince of Wales smiled and responded: “I know, I did hear about that, and congratulations.”

William also chatted with people at the dinner tables, asking one man “is this place helping enough?” – he nodded as he responded.

Ending homelessness has been a long-term focus for the Prince of Wales, who has told how visiting shelters with his mother when he was a child left a deep and lasting impression and inspired his work.

In an ITV1 and ITVX documentary released in October this year, he recalled playing chess and chatting with people during his first visit to The Passage when he was 11-years-old.

The prince was followed for the Prince William: We Can End Homelessness programme during the first year of his Homewards initiative.

The campaign aims to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms.

During the past year, the Homewards teams in six UK locations – Newport, Lambeth, Belfast, Aberdeen, Sheffield and three neighbouring Dorset towns, Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch – have been building collaborations between the public, private and third sectors.

In a statement posted alongside the video on Sunday, Kensington Palace said: “A sincere thank you to all the @passagecharity volunteers working tirelessly to support those experiencing homelessness, especially during the festive season.

“Acts of kindness, like serving Christmas lunches, brings hope and fosters a sense of community for those who need it most.”