Prince William, who is the Prince of Wales, appeared to make his fan feel at ease at the Ubele Initiative in Wood Green, north London, with a charismatic remark
Prince William met fans at a youth centre this week(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Charismatic Prince William joked with a fan at a youth centre in London on Wednesday.
Onlookers laughed at the Prince of Wales’ interaction with the woman at the Ubele Initiative, a community centre which featured in the BBC Children in Need’s We Move FWD programme. She had asked the royal if she could visit him at his new “forever home”, Forest Lodge, as she lives in nearby Windsor, Berkshire.
William, 43, quipped: “Are you inviting your family to stay? Should we talk diaries and work out timings?” The prince added: “It’s not the maddest question I’ve ever been asked,” before he asked where exactly the woman lives in Windsor, prompting more laughter from the crowd at the youth centre in Wood Green, north London.
The Prince of Wales later met young people at the Ubele Initiative, including 16-year-old Jeremiah and Elijah, 14, who spoke to the royal about their huge passion for photography.
READ MORE: Royals ‘can’t escape’ Andrew shame as ‘MORE bombshell allegations loom’READ MORE: Prince Harry makes unexpected appearance in King’s latest project in ‘olive branch’ move
The royal met celebrity chef and rapper Big Zuu at the event(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
After meeting the Prince, Elijah told reporters: “You don’t have many famous people coming here and (for) the future King to come and see us and see art that we have done… It is truly inspiring.”
William encouraged the group of young people to break boundaries and promote their creative skills after viewing their work. According to HELLO!, both Jeremiah and Elijah are regulars at the Society for the Advancement of Black Arts (SABA) in northwest London. The teenagers proudly showed Prince William an exhibition of their photos displayed inside one of Ubele’s greenhouses, chatting about photography skills and the importance of having confidence.
The prince also chatted with youngsters from the Thurrock African Group and radio presenter Richie Brave about their community radio and the importance of talking about need-of-the-hour topics. He said: “Everyone wants to fire off a quick text on social media. For me, talking about stuff is always the best way. If you don’t talk about it, we bottle it up, and it’s always worse.”
In a sobering address, dad-of-three William said he feels society has lost touch with communicating with each other due to the reliance on text messaging and social media. He said: “We have lost the art of debating. Everyone just wants to send a quick message on social media or a quick text and it’s just fired off and usually you read it incorrectly or it’s got different connotations in it.”
“We are only a community if we listen to everyone. For me, it’s all about a message. If we’re not talking about something there’s no message, and we need to be able to hear each other and listen to each other.”