The Prince of Wales encountered an unexpected run-in this morning with a fellow big name star during a visit to a Pret A Manger in Bournemouth.
Prince William was taking a trip to the much-loved coffee hot-spot as part of his Homewards campaign, to see the vital role that businesses such as Pret A Manger can do to prevent and tackle homelessness.
It was whilst he was getting stuck into greeting staff and making toasties that the future King bumped into former football superstar Paul 'Gazza' Gascgoine.
The high profile pals appeared overjoyed to have bumped into one another, as they were papped shaking hands.
William is understood to have enquired about the sportsman's wellbeing, with Paul having previously opened up about his former addiction and mental health battles.
As their catch up came to an end, Bournemouth local Paul – who earlier this year won reality series Scared of the Dark after spending a total of 180 hours in a bunker without light – broke all protocol by leaning in and giving the Prince a friendly peck on the cheek.
The move looked to have come as a pleasant surprise to William, who beamed in appreciation.
After meeting the footballer, William said it had been a “very interesting morning”.
“We even bumped into Gazza, he popped into (Pret),” he said. “It’s been a very interesting morning.”
During his visit to Pret, the Prince – who this week was hilariously snubbed by his son Prince Louis on the youngster's first day at school – was also learning about the important work being carried out by The Pret Foundation.
The charity's aim is to help break the cycle of homelessness in the UK, with William chatting to the company's CEO Pano Christou to hear how Pret's unsold freshly-made food at the end of every day is given to people who need it most.
It is understood that the future monarch aims to make rough sleeping, sofa surfing and other forms of temporary accommodation a thing of the past as part of his new initiative.
The five-year project will initially focus on local businesses, organisations and individuals, who'll be encouraged to develop "bespoke" plans of action to tackle the issue of homelessness with up to £500,000 in funding.
Later during his day in Bournemouth, the Prince is set to visit the Vitality Stadium, home of AFC Bournemouth to learn how the club is also working to support those at risk of homelessness in the area.
William's passion for charity work and conscientiousness surrounding causes in need is understood to have been passed down by his grandmother, The late Queen Elizabeth.
Last week, royal expert Hugo Vickers told OK! that the former monarch had wanted to prepare a young for his role as future King, which included preparing him for humanitarian work.
"I think the Queen prepared him a lot," he exclusively told us. "William has said over the years that he had the chance to watch her at work and follow her example, and that’s one of the great advantages of a hereditary monarchy.
"They are trained from day one and they can observe things, see how things are done and absorb things gradually, which is very important."
Source: Read Full Article