Prince George has made a heartwarming pre-Christmas trip to a homeless charity – 32 years after his dad first visited with Princess Diana.

The young royal, 12, helped prepare Christmas lunch for rough sleepers at the headquarters of The Passage in central London, alongside his dad William, 43. George also followed in his father’s footsteps by adding his name to the same visitor’s book signed by both Diana and William during one of their first joint visits in December 1993, when William was aged 11.

George was said to be “fascinated” and looked surprised on seeing his dad and late grandmother’s signatures, exclaiming: “Wow. OK.” The Passage chief executive Mick Clarke described the poignant visit as “a proud dad moment” for William, who he said told his eldest son: “That’s my mum”.

Mr Clarke showed both princes around St Vincent’s Centre in Victoria, before telling the youngster: “We’ve just got a number of different things for you to help us with. So, time to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.” He said: “He was well up for it. Absolutely. Very much like his dad in terms of he just wanted to crack on, which was lovely.”

William was reunited with the shelter’s head chef Claudette Dawkins, who featured in a documentary about homelessness with him last year. Mr Clarke said: “William was doing the sprouts, putting them into big trays because they were going to be steamed.

“George was doing Yorkshire puddings and things. And there is a lovely image that captures myself, Claudette and the two of them. It’s just beautiful and for me, it just shows how relaxed William is. He’s always very relaxed at The Passage. It always kind of feels like a family.

“But it also, I think, shows how relaxed George was. And I think that was one of the nicest things. He clearly felt very comfortable and, you know, just really enjoyed cracking on and getting involved.”

Mr Clarke added: “They spent about 10, 15 minutes chatting with volunteers getting all the veg and stuff ready for the meal.” He said George “wasn’t awkward” in the kitchen and while he said George “didn’t go into detail” about how he helps at home, he got the impression he does “bits and pieces”.

Mr Clarke said he told the second in line to the throne that the annual Christmas lunch “is a really important day because it’s for people who perhaps won’t have a place that they can call home this Christmas.” He also told George about the charity’s No Night Out campaign, which aims to prevent homelessness by offering early support.

And he said he spoke to George about how William, who became official patron of the charity in 2019, had been helping them “for many, many years” after first visiting when “he was about your age”.

George was also shown to a room where he helped volunteers create care packages, which were later distributed to people unable to attend the lunch. The packages included around 30 items, including £10 vouchers for high street bakery Greggs, as well as toiletries, socks and snack bars.

The young future King then helped to decorate a tree which had been donated to the charity by Westminster Abbey following his mother Princess Kate’s carol service. And he was also shown to an area where volunteers were decorating cupcakes for puddings.

A volunteer had provided crackers for the tables, which were themed on Aston Villa – the football team supported by both William and George. Mr Clarke, who supports their Premier League rivals Tottenham, said William made a joke about them.

He said: “I was mercilessly teased by the elder, by William, which tends to be a bit of a pattern. There is a lot of banter that goes on, which is great because I think he feels very, very relaxed here.”

William introduced George to a formerly homeless couple named Brian Ward, 67, and Sarah Bisholo, also 67, who met through The Passage after both being helped to find homes after rough sleeping. They are now engaged to be married and plan to wed and have their reception at the charity.

Mr Clarke said: “It was really poignant, actually, for William to introduce George to Brian and Sarah, and you know, say, ‘this is Brian, this is Sarah, I’ve known them for years.” William was heard asking the couple: “Brian, Sarah, can you tell the story of what this place means to you? Why is this place so precious to you?”.

Mr Clarke said: “They spoke so eloquently in terms of about how many years ago they were in a very bad place. I think it was Sarah that really spoke beautifully when she said ‘Christmas is a time for family. We don’t have a family, so this is our family’. It was beautiful and it was lovely just for George to listen and to have a chat.”

William has previously said he took “inspiration and guidance” from his mother, Princess Diana, who inspired his personal commitment to tackle homelessness before her tragic death in August 1997. He has previously spoken about the profound impact of visits he and his brother Prince Harry, 41, made to The Passage with their mother when they were children and how it helped him see “outside the palace walls”.

Speaking about the visits in a TV documentary last year, he said: “I remember having some good conversations – just playing chess and chatting. That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”

William has also previously admitted he sometimes feels guilty about not being able to do more and tries to share with his children a sense of empathy for those facing hardship, including when on the school run. His long-time support for The Passage provided the foundation for his current Homewards, external project, set up to tackle homelessness across the UK.

Speaking about the visitors book George signed, Mr Clarke said: “We looked before and the page that I had from William’s very first visit with his mum. As you’ll see in the photo, it has Diana 1993, William 1993. And there was a gap, you know, kind of underneath it.

“And so we’d asked William in terms of, do you think George would like to sign this? And he was like, yeah, that would be great. So that was really lovely because it was also a lovely moment where William was able to say to George ‘that’s my mum and this was the very first day that she took me to The Passage’.

“It was a lovely moment in terms of almost coming full circle from 1993 to the end of 2025 and it felt a bit like a proud dad moment, I thought, which was really, really lovely to see. William is incredibly genuine and authentic, passionate about this issue and loves The Passage.

“And it just really felt that he was really proud to say, ‘look, this is a place that I’m passionate about. I’m really pleased to be able to share that with you and show it to you’.”

Mr Clarke said William and George’s visit lasted “around an hour” on Tuesday before they left to join the rest of the royal family, including Princess Kate, 43, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, for Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace. The Passage sent the princes away with three teddy bears, one for each child, and William later sent food hampers containing cakes and other items to be distributed to residential centres.

Mr Clarke said George’s visit came after prolonged talks with William over “a couple of years” about how to introduce his eldest son to the charity’s work. He said: “One of the nice things is it’s very much like any family really in terms of it had to be the right time and feel right for them and, most importantly I think, feel right for George. We talked over the last couple of years really in terms of that, you know, that’d be great to do.”