The Prince and Princess of Wales have toured a new community facility in south Belfast at the beginning of a one-day visit to Northern Ireland.
William and Kate visited The Commons, a project to transform a church on the Ormeau Road into a community centre.
Meeting officials and directors
They were greeted by deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly, Belfast mayor Róis-Máire Donnelly and South Belfast MP Claire Hanna, who is also SDLP leader.
Shaking hands in the rain, Ms Little-Pengelly joked to Prince William that the weather “wasn’t playing ball”.
They spoke with David and Jill Hines, who are directors of The Commons, before being taken on a tour of the regenerated church building.
Community groups and initiatives
A number of local craft groups were set up inside, including Flourish and Sew-cial Circle.
The prince and princess met with the chairs of the New Employment Opportunities Network (Neon), an initiative launched by the Royal Foundation under William’s Homewards programme, which aims to make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated.
Steven, a care leaver from Belfast, spoke with William about what support can be put in place to help those in care get into work.
Rainy send-off
As the couple left, they were greeted by hundreds who had waited in the rain outside.
William and Kate shook hands and took selfies with the crowd, with William making a FaceTime call to the mother of one of those waiting.
