West Sussex chief fire officer advises Prince William

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, chief fire officer for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, who experienced homelessness as a teenager, is an official advocate for Homewards, the Prince of Wales’ five-year initiative to tackle homelessness.

She went to Windsor Castle on Thursday to speak to the Prince about the project and said she felt the prince had empathy for rough sleepers because of his own life experiences.

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is the chief fire officer for West Sussex (Image: WSFRS)

As a teenager, William suffered the trauma of the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, who had been taking the young royal and his brother to homeless shelters to broaden their horizons.

“He understands trauma, he does understand trauma,” said Ms Cohen-Hatton.

She added: “He can see echoes of it in himself I think, from that experience of trauma and how it affects you and how it affects the way you see things.”

Ms Cohen-Hatton slept rough intermittently for two years from the age of 15 in her home town of Newport, South Wales, after family life broke down following the death of a parent, and she credits selling the Big Issue magazine as providing the funds and confidence to break the cycle.

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She stressed it was difficult accessing support in the midst of homelessness: “When you’re experiencing the constant threat and the danger from the people around you, when you don’t have enough to eat let alone enough to think, it’s really hard to reach out and to take those services.”

The senior fire officer did not talk about her period of sleeping rough for more than 20 years because of the associated “stigma” but said one of her roles as an advocate was to “talk about changing the stigma and challenging people’s perceptions of homelessness”.

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton with Prince William at a Homewards event today (Image: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Royal)

Prince William is said to be in almost daily contact with Homewards’ senior management and has been welcoming advocates like broadcaster Gail Porter and Ms Cohen-Hatton to Windsor Castle for discussions.

Homelessness in various forms, from children living in temporary accommodation to rough sleepers in the capital, has reached record highs.

Government statistics published in April showed there were 145,800 children in temporary accommodation by December 31 last year, up by a fifth on 20 years ago when records for this measure began.