A British youth charity set up by then Prince Charles in the 1970s that has helped a million young people, including actor Idris Elba, get training, find work or start community projects will continue to function now that he is a monarch.
Charles, who became king last week after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth, set up the charity with 7,500 pounds ($8,678) in Navy severance pay, to tackle unemployment raised young people that he feared leaving young people marginalized.
It will retain its original name, The Prince’s Trust, chief executive Martina Milburn told Reuters.
Beneficiaries of the trust include actor Elba of ‘The Wire’, David Oyelowo who starred in the historical drama film ‘Selma’ and many others who have started businesses or community projects in sports or Arts.
British DJ and record producer Shahid Khan, better known by his stage name ‘Naughty Boy’, said he had gained confidence following the Trust’s decision to award him £5,000 to buy studio equipment from his beginnings.
“Growing up in social housing, you’re not used to people just saying ‘you know what, I really believe in you and I have a feeling you’re going to make that happen, so it’s was new to me,'” he told Reuters, adding the grant application also provided a learning curve.
“Although I wanted to start my own music business, there were a lot of things I needed to learn, which started my learning process.”
The youth charity helps young people between the ages of 11 and 30 find employment, education and training, providing grants and support. Although Charles used to attend directors’ meetings, he no longer does.
He said in his first speech as king that he would not have so much time for the charities and issues he cared about “so deeply” but would pass the baton to others.
Under Britain’s unwritten constitution, the royal family is not supposed to speak out on political and other issues.
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Elba, who grew up on a council estate in east London, explained how a £1,500 grant from the Prince’s Trust helped fund a place at the National Youth Music Theater and the importance of the body to charity to provide different pathways for young black men. , some of whom might otherwise fall into crime.
“It was really crucial and awesome and I’m very grateful for that,” Prince’s Trust ambassador Elba told Reuters last month, adding that it was important to “talk about the crime” and “hold accountable those who actually make it work.”
“It’s an ongoing fight…it’s an ongoing message.”
Valerie Amos, a Labor peer and the first black person to be awarded the Order of the Garter by the Queen in June, which puts her in a select group that advises the monarch, said Charles’ role had been vital “in terms of giving young people in these communities not just support, but the opportunity to realize their potential”.
“The work that Prince Charles has done through the Prince’s Trust for so many years, I think, has been hugely important in understanding what is happening in different communities in Britain,” she told Reuters.
Another Labor politician, David Lammy, recalled that after riots broke out in his constituency of Tottenham, north London, in 2011 political leaders came once and did not return.
Charles, on the other hand, returned five times and brought officials from his charities with him, Lammy said.
The Trust’s Milburn said that after speaking to young people in Tottenham following the riots, Charles would share his ideas based on what he had heard.
“He has this incredible ability to connect. What he does more than anything is listen,” she said.
“His position as king is different. He will certainly have less time… But he told me that he was always going to keep an eye on things and on what I was doing.
(Reuters)
