Royals
William and Kate brave the rain on a Belfast visit focused on care leavers
The Prince and Princess of Wales spent a day in Northern Ireland meeting young people leaving care, part of William’s Homewards programme on homelessness.
The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Belfast on Friday 9 October, focusing on young people leaving care and on preventing homelessness, ITV News and PA reported.
They toured The Commons, a church on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast that is being turned into a community centre. They were greeted by Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, Belfast’s mayor Róis-Máire Donnelly and SDLP leader Claire Hanna.
I always think that employers want to help.
Prince William
The couple met the chairs of NEON, the New Employment Opportunities Network launched by the Royal Foundation under Homewards. They later worked a café till at an Ikea store on the outskirts of the city, where they met young people hired locally through the network.
Almost two-thirds of care leavers in Northern Ireland have been homeless at some point after leaving care, PA and ITV reported. Hundreds of people waited in the rain outside, and William made a FaceTime call to one well-wisher’s mother.
Homewards aims to make homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated”, PA reported.
Sources
- ITV News / UTV: William and Kate arrive in South Belfast during Northern Ireland visit
- PA via Express & Star: William and Kate dodge rain showers to meet community centre supporters
- Good Morning America: Prince William, Kate Middleton visit Northern Ireland
Compiled by The Meridian News Desk from the sources listed above. Eyewitness accounts are attributed and their verification status is stated. Where sources give different figures, both are shown.
