The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend Shout’s Crisis Volunteer celebration event at the Troubadour White City Theatre in London on 12th November.

The event brings together people from across the UK who volunteer around the clock with Shout to support people in crisis. As volunteers access their shifts from computers in their own homes, this event will be an excellent opportunity for this virtual community to meet and see the scale of the national network they have joined.

Shout is a 24/7 text support service which was researched and developed by The Royal Foundation as a legacy of the Heads Together Campaign, with a £3million investment. It was launched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in May 2019. The service is powered by Crisis Text Line. Since the service went live, Shout 85258 Crisis Volunteers have had 145,000 conversations via text with people in crisis, exchanging 6 million messages.

This annual volunteer day is focussed on celebrating the hundreds of trained Crisis Volunteers who operate the 24/7 service taking shifts in their homes across the UK, under clinical supervision. Shout aims to encourage people to reach out for support at an early stage, without fear or shame.

During the visit, the Duke and Duchess will receive a brief update on the scale and impact of Shout. Their Royal Highnesses will hear that 75 per cent of people who contact Shout are under 25, and that the most frequent subjects raised in those conversations are suicide (37 per cent), depression (36 per cent), relationships (29 per cent), anxiety (31 per cent), isolation (19 per cent) and self-harm (17 per cent).

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also meet people who answered Their Royal Highnesses’ public appeal to volunteer with the service. An amazing 13,000 people registered an interest with Shout following the appeal and 3,000 enrolled in training. Shout 85258 now has 1,500 Crisis Volunteers active on the platform with more training, graduating and joining the platform each week. Their Royal Highnesses will also meet mental health campaigners, Shout staff members and supporters.

The Duke and Duchess will join Shout volunteers in the theatre to watch a special performance before joining a group photo with volunteers to encourage everyone to spread the word about Shout.

As patron, the Duke of Cambridge will mark 50 years of Centrepoint during two engagements on Wednesday 13th November. Centrepoint provides homeless young people with accommodation, health support and life skills to get them back into education, training and employment.

Since starting out in the basement of St Anne’s Church in 1969, the organisation has grown to become the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity, supporting over 9,000 homeless young people a year.

His Royal Highness’s first visit of the day will be to Centrepoint’s new Apprenticeship House, which aims to support young people in their journey to independent living.

As part of a wider ambitious programme developing modular housing solutions in London and Manchester to support young people moving on from supported accommodation and into work, the charity has transformed an existing building in south London into a seven bed shared home for young people on apprenticeship programmes. The Duke will visit the house and chat to residents before officially opening the building.

In the evening, His Royal Highness will attend the Centrepoint 50th anniversary gala at the Roundhouse alongside residents of Apprenticeship House who he met earlier in the day. The gala will promote the achievements of individuals supported by Centrepoint, highlight the issues they face and encourage supporters to help change the story for homeless young people.

At the gala, the Duke will meet young people who have been supported Centrepoint before delivering a speech.

The Duke has been Patron of Centrepoint since 2005.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the Royal Variety Performance at the Palladium Theatre, London on Monday 18th November.

The Royal Variety Performance takes place every year, either in London or in a theatre around the United Kingdom. The event is in aid of the Royal Variety Charity, formerly the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, of which the Queen is patron. The money raised from the show helps hundreds of entertainers throughout the UK, who need help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times.

The evening will be hosted by Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan and will include performances from Sir Rod Stewart, the cast of Mary Poppins, Lewis Capaldi, Mabel, Robbie Williams, the cast of Come From Away, and a special collaboration by Emeli Sandé and Manchester’s Bee Vocal choir.

The origins of the Royal Variety Performance date back to 1912 when King George V and Queen Mary agreed to attend a ‘Royal Command Performance’ at the Palace Theatre in London, in aid of the Variety Artistes’ Benevolent Fund. In July 1919, the second Royal show was performed and was the first to be billed a “Royal Variety Performance”.

Held at London’s Coliseum, the show was staged as a ‘celebration of peace’ and, as the official announcement expressed it, “had been commanded by the King to show his appreciation of the generous manner in which artistes of the variety stage had helped the numerous funds connected with the war”.

On the night, Their Royal Highnesses will meet a number of performers as well as Royal Variety Charity and ITV executives before and after the show.

The Field of Remembrance has been organised by the Poppy Factory and held in the grounds of Westminster Abbey since November 1928, when only two Remembrance Tribute Crosses were planted. There are now approximately 70,000 crosses produced by the factory team each year which are planted on more than 360 plots for regimental and other associations. Ex-service men and women, as well as members of the public, can plant a cross carrying a personal message in memory of those who have lost their lives in the service of others.

The Field is opened every Thursday before Remembrance Sunday and stays open for a further ten days.

Their Royal Highnesses will each lay a Cross of Remembrance and the ‘Last Post’ will sound. This will be followed by the ‘Exhortation to Remembrance, the chimes of Big Ben and a two-minute silence and reveille. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cornwall will then visit the plots for regimental and other associations, meeting veterans from all areas of the Armed Forces who have served in past campaigns and more recent conflicts. Twenty D-Day veterans will also be in attendance who will be amongst those Their Royal Highnesses will meet.

You can reflect on all of last year’s events in Royal Life issue 40.

The Queen, Patron, Royal British Legion, will visit the Royal British Legion Industries’ Village in Aylesford, which provides accommodation and welfare support to veterans and the wider Armed Forces community.

Thursday 7th November

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cornwall, Patron, The Poppy Factory, will visit the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey.

Saturday 9th November

Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by Members of the Royal Family, will attend the annual Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 9th November.

Sunday 10th November

The Queen and members of the Royal Family will attend the annual Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

The Queen will view the service from the balcony of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office building. A wreath will be laid on the Queen’s behalf by the Prince of Wales. An equerry will lay a wreath on behalf of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The service at the Cenotaph will also be attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent.

Following the service the Duke of York will take the salute at the march-past of veteran organisations on Horse Guards Parade.

Monday 11th November

The Duke of Kent will attend the National Memorial Arboretum Armistice Day service in Staffordshire.

You can reflect on all of last year’s events in Royal Life issue 40.

Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) is a national charity supporting Armed Forces personnel and veterans and their families, as well as those with a disability and people who have been long-term unemployed. The charity provides crucial support through accommodation, welfare, training and employment.

At RBLI’s Appleton Lodge, named after WWI frontline nurse Edith Appleton, Her Majesty will see how the new development has been designed to provide high quality care to 15 residents, as well as offering day care for locals who need support with health, nutritional, social and daily living needs. During the visit, the Queen will see how residents are benefitting from the recreational and social activities on offer, including arts & crafts, flower arranging and reading sessions with local schoolchildren. The Queen will meet RBLI village’s eldest resident, 99-year old WWII veteran John Riggs, and his family. Her Majesty will unveil a plaque to officially open the facility.

The Queen will also visit the RBLI Centenary Village, to see the completed first phase of the development, which includes 24 specially-adapted apartments for wounded former military personnel. Her Majesty will be shown plans for the next phase, which will support hundreds of ex-servicemen and women into the future.

Her Majesty will meet village residents and staff of the on-site social enterprise, ‘Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company’ and join a lunch celebration for the charity’s 100th anniversary. The Queen will bury a time capsule at the Centenary Village to commemorate the visit, to be opened in 100 years by future residents.

National HIV Testing Week, which will run from 16th to 22nd November, aims to increase awareness and acceptance of HIV testing by dispelling the stigma that surrounds the virus. The week, which promotes the benefits of regular testing and treatment for both the individual and the community, also raises the awareness of how quick and easy it is to test for HIV – be it in clinical settings, in primary care, through community-based rapid testing or via postal testing. This helps to improve early diagnosis and treatment of HIV, thus reducing onward transmission.

Terrence Higgins Trust, the largest voluntary sector provider of HIV and sexual health services in the UK, works to empower and support people living with HIV to lead healthy lives, and to eradicate stigma and discrimination. The charity recently established an independent HIV Commission with National AIDS Trust to develop recommendations for an effective action plan to help reach the ambitious goal of ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030.

The Commission is chaired by Dame Inga Beale and commissioners include Mercy Shibemba who is a young HIV campaigner born with the virus. The Duke has supported Terrence Higgins Trust for a number of years and has been involved in National HIV Testing Week for the past three years. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended a Terrence Higgins Trust event to mark World AIDS Day in December 2017, one of their first official visits following their engagement.

During his visit the Duke will meet with players from Harlequins’ men’s and women’s teams, as well as inclusive rugby club Kings Cross Steelers, who will share how much of an impact Gareth Thomas has had since speaking out about his HIV status. The Duke and a Harlequins player will be shown an HIV self-testing kit, which can give a result in just 15 minutes. Before departing, His Royal Highness will meet with representatives from the HIV Commission who will discuss their aims and objectives before joining a group photo with the Harlequins team and guests present on the day.

The Duchess of Cambridge, Royal Patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, will visit the charity’s new hospice ‘The Nook’ on Friday 15th November to meet children and families being supported by EACH, tour the hospice, and unveil a plaque to officially open the building.

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk and supports their families. Their care service includes specialist nursing care, symptom management nursing, short breaks, wellbeing activities, therapies, counselling and volunteer services in the family home; all meeting the individual needs of the child, young person and whole family.

After a five-year public appeal to raise £10 million and two years of building work, EACH has now welcomed children, young people and families to The Nook, a purpose-built hospice in Framingham Earl near Norwich. The Duchess attended the launch of The Nook appeal in November 2014.

Her Royal Highness also visited the charity’s previous Norfolk hospice in Quidenham in January 2017, which served as a home-from-home for over 25 years, where she received an update on the appeal.

The new building, which contains more areas for clinical care and dedicated therapy rooms, will allow EACH to meet the increased demand for its service and the ever-changing and more complex needs of those it cares for. Her Royal Highness will undertake a tour of the facilities, including the hospice’s sensory room. The Duchess will also visit the hospice’s main care area where she will meet families and children taking part in arts and crafts activities.

Her Royal Highness will then join a reception before making a short speech and unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of The Nook.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been royal patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices since 2012.