The Prince of Wales has arrived in Northern Ireland for a surprise visit as he continues his work to combat homelessness.

Prince William has two engagements scheduled during his flying visit.

The first, in Belfast, will focus on his homelessness work.

The second visit, elsewhere in the city, will celebrate Northern Ireland’s creative sector.

The Prince’s first visit is to The Foyer, which provides temporary accommodation and support services for young people experiencing homelessness.

It is run by charity Simon Community, which is one of 45 organisations and individuals that form part of the Homewards Northern Ireland Coalition, part part of the Prince’s UK wide Homewards initiative aimed at targeting homelessness.

Amongst its work, Simon Community delivers programmes aimed at preventing and ending homelessness for young people leaving care – a group that the Homewards Northern Ireland Coalition has identified as its initial priority group in the programme.

During his visit to The Foyer, The Prince will meet young people to hear about their individual journeys and to understand the support they have received.

The Prince will also meet leading practitioners to discuss some of the work currently being delivered in Northern Ireland to support young people leaving care, and the role Homewards can play in shining a light on what is working, expand and scale these support services, and develop new solutions.

Today’s surprise tour marks the Prince’s first return to the city since June 2023, when he toured the UK to promote his Homewards initiative.

Homewards Northern Ireland will look to catalyse and scale approaches like Simon Community’s Housing First For Youth service, which focuses on preventing homelessness, providing stable accommodation and community-based wraparound support to vulnerable young people leaving care for as long as they need.

With support from The Royal Foundation, Homewards Northern Ireland will deliver an innovative housing project focused on supporting young people leaving care.

Innovative housing projects are being established in each of the six Homewards locations to test new ways to unlock homes at scale for those who are experiencing, or on the brink of experiencing homelessness.

Research indicates that one third of people with care experience in the UK become homeless within the first two years of exiting the care system, whilst 25% of all people who have experienced homelessness have been in care at some point during their childhood.

Young people with lived experience of care can become homeless for many reasons including being unable to access affordable housing, the lack of a support network, and the impact of childhood trauma.

In Northern Ireland, approximately 140 young people each year leave care and present as homeless. Although this is a minority of those leaving care, we need to better understand why this is happening, and what can be done to prevent it.

The coalition aims to reduce the number of young people leaving care who experience homelessness, whilst also being able to share their learnings across the Homewards locations and beyond.

The Prince recently described the past year as “brutal” and “probably the hardest year of my life” as he dealt with his wife and father battling cancer.

In a video interview during the beginning of his visit to Cape Town in South Africa for the Earthshot price awards ceremony he said: “Honestly, it’s been dreadful,” he said.

“It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. Trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.

“But I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done. But from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.”

The visit came the same day the prince was crowned world’s sexiest bald man for the second year in a row, beating huge movie stars to top spot.

A study by PR agency Reboot Online placed William ahead of Hollywood A-listers including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Stanley Tucci, Thierry Henry, and Vin Diesel.

In 2022 the Prince and Princess of Wales made a one-day trip to Northern Ireland where they visited charities and community organisations, including suicide prevention charity PIPS in north Belfast.

It was their first visit since receiving their royal titles following the accession of King Charles III.

While William and wife Kate are most commonly known as the Prince and Princess of Wales, they hold distinct titles in Northern Ireland.

William holds the title of Baron of Carrickfergus, awarded by Queen Elizabeth II during his 2011 wedding. While Kate is officially recognized as the Baroness of Carrickfergus, she is also affectionately known as the Countess of Carrick in Norther Ireland.

News Catch Up – Thursday 14th November