Tackling homelessness is the right kind of royal meddling

"Prince William's latest initiative, Homewards, almost died of embarrassment before it was properly launched.

- SEAN O'GRADY

"William: I'll end homelessness" read the banner adorning The Sunday Times's splash, a pledge that would have been beyond even a mighty medieval monarch, let alone the politically powerless heir apparent in our modern constitutional monarchy.

Fortunately for all concerned, it turns out the Prince of Wales’s ambition is more realistic: to make homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated”. It is a perfectly laudable ambition, though still a formidable and politically hazardous one, and is just the kind of thing he should be doing in his position if the institution of monarchy is to survive. As Prince Philip said, they will stick around as long as people find them “useful”, and this type of work, funded by the Royal Foundation charity, could be very useful indeed.

As described by William Hague, who chairs William’s charity, the foundation will be involved in and lead six pioneering pilot schemes that will try and get government, local authorities, quangos, charities and private businesses to work together.