King Charles is urging the government to help fight back against violence and knife crime.
His Majesty’s call came after talks with actor Idris Elba at a meeting of The King’s Trust. They were joined by new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who heard from The King about the issue.
The King’s Trust has been working with Elba’s own foundation, Don’t Stop Your Future, to support young people impacted by the issue. The King told the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. and Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, that he would be hoping and watching for progress. He addressed his hopes as a special roundtable discussion was held at St James’s Palace.
This isn’t the first time The King has worked alongside Elba. Elba is a former alumnus and now ambassador of The King’s Trust, which was formerly known as The Prince’s Trust prior to Charles’ accession to the throne. When he was a teen, Elba was given a £1,500 grant by the Trust to attend the National Youth Music Theatre.
As Charles and Elba met in the Morning Room, the pair also discussed Elbna’s other organisation, Elba Hope Foundation. An organisation aimed at helping people in the African and African Diaspora communities. The King said: “You’re endlessly active with your wonderful foundation and your efforts in Africa, which I’m longing to hear all about.”
Elba replied: “I can’t wait to tell you, we’ve been focused on the knife crime crisis here and it’s been really good to see the whole country come round and the new Prime Minister, before he was prime minister, was keen to help me bolster the message so it’s been good. Under the former government, we did also manage to get the zombie knife banned, so the campaigning continues and I’m so grateful to have your ear.”
The meeting also allowed the pair to discuss an effort that began in 2015 to tackle youth unemployment across the globe. Following a return from the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., the Prime Minister said that despite getting back to the country two hours ago, he’s ready to take action.
Sir Keir said ”this government will listen to young people, and listen hard. The most important voices around this table are the young people who’ve told us about their experiences. We’ve got to turn this into action.”
“One thing that frustrates me is a lot is to continually have the same conversation, we’re not going to do that. We need to listen, decide what we’re going to do and get on with it. And you have the right to push us. The right to say to Yvette, to me, to Lisa, you said you were going to get on with it – get on with it. It’s now time for action.”
The event was originally scheduled for a different time but was postponed due to The King’s cancer diagnosis in February. It was then scheduled for right before the election but then rescheduled due to the former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, wanting to hold a snap election in July.
