Prince Harry donates £1.1m to Children in Need

The Duke of Sussex has made a personal donation of £1.1m to a BBC Children in Need project in Nottingham supporting young people who have been affected by violence.

Prince Harry is on the second day of a UK visit, where he’s been attending charity events.

In Nottingham he visited the Community Recording Studio, an initiative supported by BBC Children in Need, where he applauded a rap music performance, giving a hug to one of the young people taking part.

The prince hoped the donation, from his own money rather than his Archewell organisation, would help “changemakers in the city continue their mission to create safe spaces, build trust, and offer hope and belonging to young people who need it most”.

Looking relaxed and wearing jeans, Harry met youth workers and local groups at the recording studio and heard about their efforts to tackle violence in Nottingham, in a scheme supported by BBC Children in Need.

As well as showing a few dance moves when he arrived, he joined a roundtable conversation about tackling issues such as knife crime and creating more positive opportunities.

BBC Children in Need, supported by an annual TV fundraising drive, is now one of the country’s biggest funders of independent youth workers.

Tony Okotie, the charity’s director of impact, said the donation would help “create spaces where young people feel safe, heard, and empowered to build brighter futures”.

There have been previous significant donations by the prince. He gave £1.2m of the proceeds from his memoir Spare to Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in southern Africa, which he subsequently left in an acrimonious dispute.

Prince Harry arrived in the UK on Monday – and went to lay a wreath on the grave of Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor, on the third anniversary of her death.

But it is still not known whether he will meet his father King Charles during this visit to the UK, despite much speculation that a meeting is on the cards.

The two men have not met face to face since February 2024 and Prince Harry has talked emotionally in a BBC interview about wanting a “reconciliation” with his family.

While Prince Harry has been in Nottingham, his brother the Prince of Wales has been carrying out his own engagements – visiting a housing project in south London as part of his Homewards campaign to tackle homelessness.

On Monday, Prince Harry had attended the WellChild awards in London, while his brother Prince William was at a Women’s Institute meeting in Berkshire, with guests remembering the legacy of the late Queen Elizabeth.