Prince William just showed up to Tesco for an important reason

It was for a cause close to his heart

Prince William, Prince of Wales visits Bournemouth AFC's Vitality Stadium to hear about the Premier League football club's work within the community to support those at risk of homelessness and their commitment to extend this work over the next five years as part of the Homewards programme
(Image credit: Getty)

Prince William definitely shocked Tesco shoppers this week when he showed up outside the shop — but his reason for doing so won't surprise royal fans.

The Prince of Wales headed to the big Tesco in Hammersmith on Tuesday, where he joined Big Issue vendor Dave Martin in selling copies of the magazine, whose proceeds go towards helping those living in poverty. The Prince donned the uniform, consisting of a bright red "Big Issue" branded gilet and baseball hat.

William has actually already worked with Dave in the past, when he helped him sell the charity magazine back in 2022.

This time, Will and Dave reportedly exchanged some Christmas cheer, for 'tis the season after all.

A source told The Sun: "He decided he wanted to go see Dave and swap Christmas cards and they sold The Big Issue together."

Writing on Twitter about his day at Tesco, William said: "Great to be back with Dave, selling the latest edition of the @BigIssue once again!"

The first time he helped sell the magazine,William shared a video montage of it on Instagram, writing: "The @bigissueuk’s impact goes far beyond the thousands of vendors whose lives it supports.

"I was eleven when I first visited @passagecharity with my mother and since then, homelessness has stuck with me as an issue I want to fight for.

"I have always believed in using my platform to help bring attention and action to those who are struggling and I commit to doing what I can to shine a spotlight on this solvable issue not just today, but in the months and years to come."

A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales

A photo posted by princeandprincessofwales on

Fighting homelessness and poverty is one of William's main missions: as such, he is patron of a number of related charities such as Centrepoint and The Passage.

This past summer, he also launched a project called Homewards, which "will aim to demonstrate that together it’s possible to end homelessness — making it rare, brief and unrepeated."

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.