Prince William was pictured warmly embracing homelessness advocate Gail Porter today during a trip to Aberdeen.

The 42-year-old royal was visiting the Scottish city as part of his mission to eradicate homelessness within five years through his Homewards initiative.

Gail, a Homewards advocate, was set to tour the first homes to be delivered by the scheme’s Housing Project with the royal. 

As well as meeting Ms Porter during his visit, the prince made the most of his trip by  embarking on a number of engagements.

Among them, he visited the UK’s leading recruitment experts, Hays, with whom his Homewards project is partnering.

There, he joined in a game of ‘employment bingo’, but had to admit defeat when he was beaten.

The aim of the partnership between the two organisations is to help create employment pathways which are ‘crucial to preventing homelessness’.

William, known as the Duke of Rothesay when he is in Scotland, was joined by Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett, an advocate for the initiative, as they listened to the barriers young people are facing as they seek employment.

Prince William was snapped warmly embracing his long-term friend and homelessness advocate Gail Porter in Aberdeen

The royal and the TV presenter planned to look at homes delivered by the Homewards Project, a well as meet a resident who will be moving into one of the 31 homes

As an icebreaker, the pair were invited to play a game of bingo where they had to fill in squares with a name of someone who had done certain jobs, with William putting his name to ‘someone who has a job they love’ and ‘served in the armed forces’.

But he was beaten to victory by Tev Warrander, team leader of the learning team at Aberdeen Foyer, which assists young people with employment skills.

The royal took time to sit and chat with the young people asking them what ‘challenges’ they have faced getting jobs and hearing how a lack of experience and confidence can prevent them from succeeding.

He heard from some who had been trying to secure employment for three years, acknowledging that can be ‘a bit demoralising if you have been waiting for so long.. quite frustrating’. 

During the board meeting that followed, he spoke to employers who are partnering with the initiative.

But before they got down to business, William could not resist a swipe at Mr Warrander for winning the bingo. He quipped: ‘Tev, who organised the game won, so make of that what you will.’

Mr Bartlett also joked: ‘I’m not sure that’s the fairest way to win a competition; you make the rules and then win.’

Explaining the game, he said: ‘You had to write your name in the box associated with each thing, so His Royal Highness has done a lot so I was going to write his name in every box but then I looked over his and he wrote my name in every box.’ But he said ‘it was quite eye-opening’ and described it as a ‘smart idea’.

The royal is pictured during his visit to Homewards Aberdeen Coalition member Aberdeen Foyer in Aberdeen, to launch a new partnership between Homewards and Hays

Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett (pictured, left) was also in attendance at the meeting at Aberdeen Foyer 

While meeting with representatives from Hays, Prince William played a game of ’employment bingo’ – which he lost

On a serious note, he said the venture was about ‘laying down the blueprint for a long term solution to end homelessness’.

The businessman said: ‘It you can make the blueprint and prove it’s possible I think it will help millions of people over the coming decades.’

He added it was important to ‘understand what the barriers are for people like me as an employer of hundreds of people to employ more from this talent pool.’

Mr Bartlett said: ‘It a five-year journey across six target locations to essentially prove that homelessness isn’t an inevitability, it’s something that we can end. I will take a lot of this information back and be in touch with the Homewards team about some of my observations and we’ll plan future initiatives on that basis.’

Aberdeen is the only Scottish location of six across the UK that have benefited from funding from The Royal Foundation as part of William’s ambitious scheme.

Other areas include Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Lambeth, Newport, Northern Ireland, and Sheffield.

Hays says it will support the programme to secure national and local commitments for employment and training opportunities.

During his visit to Aberdeen, Prince William met with people with whom he discussed ’employment barriers faced by those experiencing homelessness’

It will also share ‘bespoke, data-driven insights crucial to understanding and addressing employment barriers faced by those experiencing homelessness’.

Karen Young, Social and Environmental Purpose Lead at Hays said together with Homewards they ‘share the belief that sustainable employment is key to preventing and ultimately ending homelessness.’

Mr Warrander admitted it was ‘nerve wracking’ meeting the Prince but he said: ‘To have him sitting at the table and actually caring about what the young people answers were was brilliant and what was better was he followed up with another question which showed he was listening.’

Homewards has committed to creating innovative housing projects across its six locations ‘to test new ways to unlock homes to end homelessness at scale’.

The Homewards Aberdeen Innovative Housing Project focuses on supporting single adults and young people experiencing relationship breakdown.