Why Prince William spent ‘uncomfortable’ night sleeping outside London station

Prince William once spent the night sleeping near a London tube station, camping out in freezing December conditions in Blackfriars 14 years ago alongside a homeless charity chief.

Talking to Centrepoint CEO Seyi Obakin about how he fared during the experience, William said that they both walked back to the charity’s service HQ in Soho at dawn and the Prince of Wales admitted he was “very uncomfortable”.

However, Seyi Obakin said the royal fared “much better than me”. Princess Diana had shown him the other side of the capital when he was just 11 years old, William revealed as they visited a homeless shelter0 a formative moment for the young prince who has been campaigning to raise awareness about the cause ever since.

This month, Prince William is set to launch a “really big project” through the Royal Foundation. He recently attended the opening of Reuben House in Peckham in southeast London- an affordable housing development of 33 flats for young people from Centrepoint.

Seyi Obakin told The Times that having Prince William involved is “powerful”.

“He said it was very uncomfortable, but it was only one night and what worried him the most was the mental state of a young person who had to do that every night, who doesn’t know what the next day is going to be like,” Seyi Obakin said recalling the night he spent with Prince William at tube station.

“That ability that he has to convince society to think about the issue in a different way — to not think about it as just rough sleepers and think about homelessness in the round,” he said.

“He can draw other support to the cause that ordinarily would not be there, from people who might say, ‘If he’s involved, if he’s interested, actually I might pay some attention to this stuff too’. That’s what he can do. He can’t do politics, but he can do human,” he continued.