It has come to light that The Prince of Wales covertly visited prisoners following the London riots of 2011, in an effort to find out the cause.
Prince Charles visited prisoners after the London Riots of 2011 to see what The Prince’s Trust could do (shutterstock)
Prince Charles was eager to figure out the true source of the community’s discord and strife. Feeling that his charity, The Prince’s Trust, could be useful in helping out the community, Charles spent time secretly visiting prisoners who were incarcerated for their part in the mayhem, asking them what had happened in their neighbourhoods that precipitated the period of unrest that spread across the country.
It is believed that protests started in Tottenham, after local man Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police. A series of riots then erupted, lasting from the 6th through the 11th of August 2011. Five people died and thousands participated in the melee, which included looting, arson, and clashes with the police.
While speaking at the Prince’s Trust charity event, Invest in Futures on 7th February, Phillip Schofield, an ambassador for the charity and presenter for This Morning, shared how during the London Riots, the Prince’s Trust was out in the streets trying to help.
Schofield explained that after his visit to the prison, The Prince of Wales had learnt quite a bit and many new ideas and concepts were generated from those discussions. “The London riots that we had, the awful time we went through, the Prince’s Trust was on the ground.
“[Prince Charles] was in jail cells, quietly, secretly, saying: ‘What’s happened here? What’s happened in your community?’ and someone said to him: ‘What community?”‘
“He came away thinking, ‘I’ll learn from now, I will learn from now’, and new schemes have been born out of that,” the presenter said.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were amongst members of the Royal Family who visited the affected communities across the UK to see how things were being handled and what changes were being made.
Of Prince Charles, Schofield said: “He writes a lot, he thinks a lot. It’s a constant process. I think that itself is a testament to a guy that few people see – the real guy outside of the trust that we do. He is utterly and completely active.”
Hosting the Invest in Futures event at the Savoy hotel, actor Simon Callow praised the Prince as “Someone who has changed the lives of thousands of young people.”
While addressing the crowd, Charles spoke about how deplorable the figures are in regards to young lives lost to adolescent violence. He spoke of his personal knowledge of how deeply and completely the victim’s families had been devastated.
The Prince of Wales said: “Before Christmas, I hosted a discussion on the issue of youth violent crime and the horrors of knife crime in particular, at Clarence House with my youngest son Harry. I heard first hand from young people and families whose lives have been dreadfully affected.”
The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Sussex joined a @PrincesTrust roundtable event at Clarence House today to discuss youth violent crime and the ways in which it can be reduced.
The discussion was part of the Trust’s work to help disadvantaged and vulnerable young people. pic.twitter.com/Hx1ftU7QyU
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) December 12, 2018
The Prince’s Trust charity was founded in 1976 by Charles, with the aim to help struggling and disadvantaged young people turn their lives around and become successful adults. Over the years, the trust has become a leading charity in the UK and has now helped over 900,000 adolescents and young adults in many aspects of their lives. The Prince’s Trust is now able to help not only with education but mentoring, job training, employment and numerous other programmes.
