Today, The Prince of Wales conducted his first solo engagement of 2023, after he visited Merseyside with The Princess of Wales last week. Prince William visited Together as One, a charity in Slough that is dedicated to working with young people to create positive social change.
The charity is located near William’s home, Adelaide Cottage, on the Windsor estate.
During the visit, William learnt about the work of the charity, which was originally founded in response to numerous incidents of gang violence between young people from Asian backgrounds in Slough in the late 1990s.
The Prince met staff and discussed how they help young people resolve any conflict, challenge prejudice and contribute to a healthy society.
He also demonstrated his cooking skills as he took part in the charity’s Global Grub cooking programme. It teaches young individuals how to cook healthy food, whilst coping with the challenges posed by the cost of living crisis currently in the UK.
As he walked into the kitchen, the Prince commented: ‘Oh it smells good in here!’
After being told by chef Kevin Muhammad that they were prepping for chicken teriyaki, the father of three replied: ‘What time is it? 10, 11 in the morning? It makes the stomach start rumbling!’
The heir to the throne took off his jacket and put on an apron and got stuck in by helping the group as he poured a bowl of pre-cooked noodles into the wok of simmering chicken.
Speaking of his own culinary achievements, William told the chef: ‘I do a mean steak. My sauces come out quite dry or lumpy – I’ve got to work on those.’
We’ve seen William demonstrating his cookery skills over recent years, including a Christmas TV special with wife, Catherine, and Mary Berry in 2019.
The Royal was also introduced to members of the Slough Young Carers (SYC). He heard about the work they do looking after their parents and siblings, as well as how Together as One supports them.
SYC was founded in 2014 after a group of volunteers from Aik Saath (Together As One in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu), who were young carers themselves, wanted to use their lived experiences to help others who were experiencing similar situations. The aim of SYC is to improve the wellbeing and resilience of every young carer.
Together As One empowers young people to lead social change in their community, teaching invaluable life skills and tackling major issues like bullying, knife crime and racism. pic.twitter.com/Jl5GxCLvkO
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 17, 2023
Today’s visit was also the first solo visit from Prince William since his brother released his memoir, Spare. In the book, Harry alleged William and Catherine convinced him to wear a costume Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party, as well as allegations of physical violence from William.