Prince William, The Pauper? British royal Prince William swapped the comfort of Buckingham Palace for the freezing streets of London last week sleeping rough for charity. The 27-year-old heir slept rough for the night after The Centrepoint Charity for The Homeless organized the opportunity for the Prince to experience a night sleeping on the streets.

Wiliam and Seyi Obakin, the chief executive of Centrepoint, spent a chilly night in an alley near the city’s Blackfriars Bridge last Tuesday. William has been the charity’s patron since 2005 and hopes his night as a homeless man will draw attention to the growing number of displaced Brits taking up residence on the streets of London.

“I hope that by deepening my understanding of the issue, I can help do my bit to help the most vulnerable on our streets,” the prince — who was almost run over by streetsweeper during his escapade.

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“I cannot, after one night, even begin to imagine what it must be like to sleep rough on London’s streets night after night,” William said Tuesday. “Poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency and family breakdown cause people to become and then stay homeless.”

Even as second in line to the throne, William was exposed to some of the tough hardships found on the mean streets of the big city at a young age. The prince’s mother, Princess Diana, introduced both William and his younger brother Harry to volunteer work at homeless shelters in 1996. Diana was beloved for her charitable work and compassion and also served as Centrepoint’s patron until her death in 1997.