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After a weekend of celebrating his grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee, the Duke of Cambridge hit the streets of London to sell magazines. Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, was spotted this week sporting a red vest and cap as he sold copies of The Big Issue , a weekly magazine that is sold by homeless or vulnerably housed people.
Matthew Gardner, a retired Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent, shared photos of Queen Elizabeth ’s grandson on his LinkedIn writing, “My bother in law was in London today and saw a celebrity, so he took a photo at a distance. The celebrity saw the ‘covert surveillance’ effort and crossed the road to investigate further. What an honour to have a private moment with our future King who was humble and working quietly in the background, helping the most needy.”
Matthew continued, “These ‘silent gestures’ often go unrecognised. The finale to this unique occasion was when Prince William asked my brother in law If he wanted to buy the ‘Big Issue’, to which he replied “I have no change”. At this point William produced a mobile card machine… you cannot teach that ! Priceless, or should I say ‘Princely’.”
London cabbie Neil Kramer also shared a photo of William with another Big Issue vendor on Instagram. “Hi I’m William would you like to buy a copy of the Big Issue,” Neil captioned the picture.
William is patron of the homeless charity The Passage and the youth homeless charity Centrepoint. Back in December of 2009, the Duke slept on the streets of London to deepen his understanding of the challenges young homeless people face.
“I hope that by deepening my understanding of the issue, I can help do my bit to help the most vulnerable on our streets,” William said at the time, per ABC News . “I cannot, after one night, even begin to imagine what it must be like to sleep rough on London’s streets night after night. Poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency and family breakdown cause people to become and then stay homeless. Centrepoint’s work - along with many other organisations‘ - in tackling these fundamental causes is desperately important if we are ever to end homelessness in this country.”