The night Queen Elizabeth dropped into a homeless shelter before heading down the River Thames to join Tony Blair to open one of his 'pet projects' - the Millennium Dome

Prince William credits his mother Diana for explaining the concept of homelessness to him – and particularly why people sleep rough.

In focusing his energy on the plight of the many thousands who have nowhere to call home, he is clearly continuing her work in this area, but it is often forgotten he's also following in the footsteps of his grandmother the late Queen.

On New Year's Eve 1999 as the minutes ticked by to the dawn of the new Millennium, I was one of a small group of press gathered outside the Crisis cold weather shelter for the homeless in Southwark.
We were waiting for a visit by Queen Elizabeth who had asked to spend Hogmanay with some of the least-well off people in the country before heading down the River Thames to join Prime Minister Tony Blair and his New Labour team to open one of their pet projects – the Millennium Dome.

The Queen had particularly requested the visit. Not everybody would be celebrating the Millennium and she was keen to mark this significant milestone with people from all walks of life. She chose a Crisis centre since she had heard that around 40 people would be spending the New Year at the unit, including heroin users undergoing treatment.
The Queen, dressed in a cheerful apricot-coloured coat, and accompanied by Prince Philip, was shown around the shelter by Shaks Ghosh, the chief executive of crisis at the time.

In the sitting room she met Mouse, injured after a fall, who held on to his can of Special Brew as he met the monarch. 'The Queen seemed to know my name and she knew I had broke my hip and said she hoped I got better,' he said at the time. 'It has really made my day.'

The royal couple also met one of the shelter's success stories. Peter Davies, a reformed alcoholic, had used the Southwark shelter a few years before, and by the Queen's visit had moved into a flat in north west London.

He told the monarch that Crisis had saved his life.

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