Wills on film! Prince of Wales larks about with studio equipment and meets Oscar-winning actor with Down’s syndrome in Belfast

Prince William played around with studio equipment as he met an Oscar-winning actor in Belfast today – after the royal visited a temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The Prince of Wales, 42, had a jam-packed schedule during his trip to Northern Ireland.

In the afternoon, he traveled to the state-of-the-art Virtual Production Studio at Ulster University’s Belfast City Campus Centre, to meet pupils who are learning about production, an innovative technology in which a virtual set is created and displayed on LED walls.

The future King clearly enjoyed himself as he posed on a model motorbike and played around with the cameras.  

He also met Belfast-born actor, James Martin – the first person with Down syndrome to win an Academy Award after performing in An Irish Goodbye – to discuss the growing success of the sector in Northern Ireland, and how Studio Ulster will help to further strengthen the country’s reputation as a global creative leader.

Over the last decade, the university helped to grow the creative industries sector in Northern Ireland, which is estimated to contribute £1.4bn to the local economy and employs more than 24,000 people.

Later, William joined training workshop with young people from two local community groups who are being taught to operate software used in the creation of games, animation and virtual production. 

His day started with a meeting with partners involved in the Homewards programme, which was founded by himself in a bid to tackle homelessness. 

The engagement was designed to explore how local projects can be ‘scaled up’ to help prevent young people leaving care becoming homeless.

Northern Ireland is one of six Homewards locations across the UK where local partnerships are working to identify and solve issues that lead to homelessness.

William visited The Foyer, a temporary accommodation and support service which houses around 30 young people operated by the charity Simon Community, a member of the Homewards ‘Northern Ireland local Coalition’.

Research shows 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 per cent of all people who have experienced homelessness have been in care at some point during their childhood.

Young people who have been in care may become homeless because they can’t access affordable housing, lack a support network or have experienced childhood trauma. In Northern Ireland, around 140 young people each year leave care and become homeless.

William was welcomed to the centre by the SDLP leader Dame Fionnuala Jay O-Boyle and Jim Dennison, the chief executive of Simon Community, before sitting down with a group of Homewards partners including Dennison, Caitroina McCusker, PWC’s regional market leader for northern Ireland who is working with Homewards on private sector support and Alyson Kilpatrick, chair of the Homewards northern Ireland steering group.

He told them: ‘All of you have been doing such an amazing job for such a long time. A lot of people have told me that since the documentary went out, it’s opened their eyes a bit more to what homelessness is about. What more can we do to help you?’ 

Kilpatrick replied: ‘I think coming to shine a light, visiting, meeting people who are homeless, it all helps.’

William then joined two groups of young people who have been supported by Simon Commnity’s ‘housing first for youth programme’ 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, to hear their stories and what support they have received.

In the first group at an arts and crafts activity table, he met Amy, 19, who went into care at 16 after a family breakdown and has been at The Foyer since earlier this year. 

She told William: ‘When I was in care, so often, I wasn’t treated like a normal person. There isn’t often mental health support. Without the Simon Community programme, I’m not sure where I’d be.’

William asked her: ‘Is it that we need to get to you earlier? Is that the key issue? Should that be how the care system works more?’ She told him: ‘Definitely’.

In the second group, he met Sherry, 19 and Thomas 18, who told him of their experiences. Thomas spoke of how he had been in foster care for 12 years and moved home seven times before finding more permanent support and housing from Simon Community.

Sherry, who had an ‘abusive and alcoholic’ mother, had been in foster care from the age of 12, before being given support by the charity. She told William: ‘People just think it’s alcoholic old people who are homeless. They don’t see us. We really do appreciate what you’re doing.’

William replied: ‘I really care that you guys are seen and so often you aren’t, and I want to change that, change that narrative. Because nobody should be going through what you’ve been through.’

Thomas asked him: ‘Of all the causes you could have picked, why homelessness?’ 

William told him: ‘I had experience of seeing some of the issues from when I was young. The whole plan now is to show we can prevent it. You should all be so proud of the journey you’ve been on, onwards and upwards.’ 

The prince also met practitioners in the care system to hear about some of the current work in Northern Ireland to support young people leaving care, and how Homewards can help in identifying what is working, expand support services and try to develop new solutions.

Later, William visited Ulster University’s Belfast City Campus Centre, to meet pupils who are learning about visual production, and visited its state of the art studio.

The studio is part of a Ulster University drive to train up the next generation of experts in the creative sector, which is estimated to contribute £1.4bn to the local economy and employs more than 24,000 people.

The Prince joined an Ulster Screen Academy training workshop, in which mentors were paired with young people from two local community groups to learn how to operate the software used in the creation of games, animation and virtual production.

William asked what they were currently working on, seeing a rainy scene from a horror game, how the young people got into it, and what they were hoping to do for their future careers.

‘Ahh that’s clever!’ he said, watching them work. ‘That’s amazing.’

He asked one man whether it was ‘fairly easy to get your head around?’, laughing when he was told it was his first day. ‘You’re going places!’ William told him.

The project is aimed at diversifying the talent pool in the creative industries, training young people in their own communities in the hopes that some will go on to find skilled work.

Moving to the visual production training suite, he heard about the other end of the career spectrum, introduced to Oscar-winning actor James Martin.

Martin, who starred in the award-winning short film An Irish Goodbye, received his MBE from Prince William earlier this year, with the Prince grinning and telling him ‘I recognise that! Who gave you that!’ when he shook his hand.

He asked the actor what had helped him in his own career, and when he realised he had such acting potential.

After trying out both the motorbike and the film camera, the Prince was given a short tour of the Ulster University campus by the President of its student union, pausing to speak to staff at the ‘Student Wellbeing’ room and some students having their lunch.

He seemed particularly interested in a small remote controlled car built by a student studying a mechanical engineering course, picking it up to admire it.

As he walked, students took photographs and videos, with some saying hello or giving a small cheer.

Before leaving, he spent time at the OUSU ‘student voice’ stall, asking what was on students’ minds and what they cared about.

Emily Roberts, vice-president of the student union, told him about their work on tackling violence against women and girls, saying afterwards that the Prince had asked what he could do to help or support them.

He signed the visitor book before leaving, with students peering over five floors of balconies to see him. Some whistled loudly, making the Prince laugh, with several brief rounds of cheers before he left.

The father-of-three has had a busy couple of weeks, having recently just come back from South Africa where he celebrated the Earthshot Prize winners during a glitzy, star-studded ceremony.  

Finalists, stars and campaigners trod the green carpet, the biggest in the world, at the start of the awards.

Last week’s event were held in a reusable eco ‘super dome’ with a green carpets for guests who include host Billy Porter and models Heidi Klum and Winnie Harlow.

The five winning organisations were chosen from nearly 2,500 nominees across 75 countries.

The Prince of Wales looked suave in a grey chequered blazer, crisp blue shirt and navy suit trousers, complete with a casual pair of gleaming eco-friendly white trainers while attending the event.

Mary Allen, from Natural Fiber Welding who make Purified Shoes said: ‘I had no idea Prince William was going to be wearing the shoes until just before we got here. It’s such a huge honour.

He looked ready for the evening ahead as he posed next to Earthshot Prize Ambassador and Host of Earthshot Week, Nomzamo Mbatha, and the son of the late Steve Irwin, Robert Irwin, who is a Australian conservationist. 

The star-studded event saw model Winnie posing for snaps on the green carpet, donning an elegant chocolate brown ensemble.

Prince William said the  Princess of Wales is ‘doing really well’ and that she and their children watched his Earthshot Prize environmental awards.

The royal paid tribute to wife Kate on his trip to Cape Town, saying she had been ‘amazing’ during her tough year of cancer treatment.

‘She’s doing really well thanks. And…hopefully she is watching tonight. So cheering me on. She’s been she’s been amazing this whole this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success,’ he said.

William was speaking to the BBC and Sky News as he prepared to host his fourth annual Earthshot Awards designed to highlight and scale up the best solutions on the planet to the current environmental crisis.

He said that he and his family, like so many, have conversations about trying to ‘do what they can’ at home.

William said: ‘Yeah, well, you know, every family tries to do what they can to sort of help with the environment. 

‘We go through all the basics of recycling and making sure we minimise water use and turning off lights when we leave the house and stuff like that, and making sure, which is sensible in what we do around the environment. I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can.’

He recently revealed that he’s had the ‘hardest year in my life’ following Kate and King Charles’ cancer diagnoses.

In a remarkably candid – and at times emotional – interview at the end of his official visit to South Africa he admitted the past few months had been ‘brutal’.

But the prince also said how hugely ‘proud’ he was of Catherine and the King for handling their health battles with such dignity and bravery.

Speaking in Cape Town last week, he slightly sighed and lowered his voice as he said: ‘Honestly? It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, 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.’ 

Asked how is the princess is ‘getting on’, he smiled and said: ‘She’s doing well. Doing well.’

William added of his relaxed demeanour in Cape Town this week: ‘It’s interesting you say that, because I couldn’t be less relaxed this year, so it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that.’