Prince Philip meets homeless veteran who once stood guard at Buckingham Palace

The Duke of Edinburgh toured the Veterans Aid hostel in Limehouse, east London
Nathan Rooke once stood guard at Buckinham Palace but fell on hard times and found himself homeless
Robert Jobson2 June 2016

The Duke of Edinburgh was back on public duty today visiting a hostel for homeless military veterans – and met a resident who once stood guard at Buckingham Palace.

Just days after being forced to pull out of the Battle of Jutland commemorations on medical advice, Philip toured the Veterans Aid hostel in Limehouse, east London.

The Duke chatted to Army Air Corps veteran Nathan Rooke, 25, who was stationed at the palace in 2009 and is now among the first to occupy a room at refurbished New Belvedere House,

Mr Rooke, who served with 4 Squadron from 2007 to 2011 as an aviation communications specialist, told the Duke how he fell on hard times after leaving the services.

He said: “My relationship broke down and I lost my job and it just spiraled downwards after that.

The Duke spoke to veteran Nathan Rooke at the charity event
AFP

“I found myself on the streets. All I had was my guitar and a bag of clothes and my ‘screaming eagle’ belt buckle from my days in the Army Air Corps,” said musician Mr Rooke, from the West Country.

He was advised to contact Veterans Aid, who told him they would help if he got to London.

“I busked my way to London and Veterans Aid were amazing. I was put up in a hotel at first and given money to get something to eat. I just burst into tears,” added Mr Rooke.

The charity has now paid for him to attend a sound engineers course and bought him a computer so he can work on his music.

Along with another resident, Ross de Freitas, he has composed a song called “Hearts and Minds” about the experiences faced by veterans when they fall on hard times.

The Duke, who turns 95 next week, was at the hostel to see work on the ongoing £7 million refurbishment project.

Today was his first public engagement after he was advised not to travel to Orkney for the Jutland centenary commemorations.

Son-in-law Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence said Philip had been “very frustrated and disappointed” to miss out but it would have been “unwise” at the Duke’s age “to go and stand in a windswept cemetery for a long period.”

The prince has appeared to be in robust health recently, accompanying the Queen in Windsor during her 90th birthday celebrations last month.

Veterans Aid was started in 1932 in response to the homelessness caused by poverty and unemployment among the ex-service community.

CEO Dr Hugh Milroy said, “The New Belvedere House makeover project is the largest single investment of money, human resource and community engagement in the charity’s history and it is on track to deliver a facility that will change the way people think about hostels.

“The Duke of Edinburgh has attended all of our carol concerts but this is the first time he has seen how money raised by donors and supporters translates into delivery of practical help. We were delighted and honoured when he accepted our invitation to visit.”.

Phase One of the flagship hostel’s £7m upgrade and refurbishment was completed in January. This enabled 12 veterans from the main hostel to move into four flats, fitted out to the highest standards with the help of volunteers from Bloomberg and Habitat for Humanity.

Readers of the Evening Standard raised £700,000 for homeless veterans with our 2014 Christmas appeal, which gained the support of Prince William and David Cameron.

Actors and sportsmen, including Stephen Fry, Angelina Jolie Pitt, James Blunt and David Beckham, also gave their backing.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in