By Molly Claire Goddard
7:47am PDT, Aug 14, 2025
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Prince William's fight to reduce homelessness led him to sleep on the streets.
According to the CEO of the charity Centrepoint,
Seyi Obakin, the Prince of Wales' longtime support of the cause influenced him to spend a night unhoused in London to understand what people are experiencing.
Keep reading to learn about the "brave" decision William made…MORE:
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"He said, 'I want to get close to this issue and it is all well and good reading about it and talking to people affected by it, but how about I actually get a feel for it personally?'" the leader of the charity recalled in an interview about William's 2009 act of kindness. "He didn't want to be in a safe zone. He wanted to have an experience that would be as close to the experience that a young person would have if they had had to make that choice."
"One of the first things he said, he didn't want to be an ornamental patron," Seyi Obakin noted. "He wanted to get involved and understand the issues and to know how he could help and he wanted to help. He hasn't wavered from that from day one."
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Prince William seems to be inspired by his late mother,
Princess Diana, who also supported Centrepoint before her death in 1997. The father of two officially became a patron of the cause in 2005.
Mick Clarke, who leads the organization called The Passage, noted the significant impact the former Princess of Wales' passion for philanthropy had on William.
"She had left a deep and lasting impression," he explained during an interview. "He [William] talked about how his mom made it very pointed that he – as she said – was exposed to life beyond palace walls. That is something that he and [wife
Kate Middleton] are doing with their own children."
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During the COVID-19 pandemic,
Prince William visited The Passage organization's center three times in four weeks.
"He came in and helped, preparing and cooking the food — and in some cases delivering the food," Mick Clarke recounted. "I think he feels more comfortable when it is just him with no cameras."
"People experiencing homelessness are very good at assessing if someone is authentic or not. When he visits, such as when he is helping out at Christmas, he normally runs over — if he's meant to be there for an hour, it will be approaching three," he continued. "There's something deeply authentic about that. With things like that, you can't fake it. I have known him now for many years and what you see is what you get."
