The Prince scheduled two engagements during his flying visit to Northern Ireland.
He visited Ulster University’s Belfast campus where he met with the Belfast actor to discuss the growing success of the creative sector here.
An earlier engagement in the city focused on his homelessness work.
Arriving via police escort at the university, where he met students studying creative subjects, the future king was greeted with a muted response despite the onlooking crowds of over 100 students.
A pro-Palestinian protest of around 30 people were also at the scene.
The group loudly shouted the Prince of Wales’ name followed by “shame” as well as directing comments at Secretary of State Hilary Benn, who was also in attendance.
Watch: Prince William booed as he arrives in Belfast
While at Ulster University William heard about the “work that is being carried out to solidify Northern Ireland as a global leader of creative excellence and innovation by developing and upskilling the future workforce and expanding technological capabilities”.
Through its Ulster Screen Academy, the university provides creative industries training via community outreach and grassroots connections.
He also joined a training workshop with young people who are being taught by the Ulster Screen Academy to operate software used in the creation of games, animation and virtual production.
William also visited the university’s state-of-the-art Virtual Production Studio to meet students who are developing their skillsets in virtual production.
The Prince’s first stop was at The Foyer, which provides temporary accommodation and support services for young people experiencing homelessness- a group that the Homewards Northern Ireland Coalition has identified as a priority group.
It is run by the Simon Community charity, part of the Homewards Northern Ireland Coalition and part of the Prince’s UK-wide Homewards initiative.
During his visit to The Foyer, he met young people to hear about their individual journeys and to understand the support they have received.
The Prince also met practitioners to discuss some of the work currently being delivered in NI to support young people leaving care, and the role Homewards can play in developing new solutions.
Today’s visit is the Prince’s first to the city since June 2023, when he toured the UK to promote his Homewards initiative, which spreads to six locations UK wide.
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Research indicates that a third of people with care experience in the UK become homeless within the first two years of exiting the care system.
And 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 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.
News Catch Up – Thursday 14th November