Prince George has helped serve Christmas dinner to the homeless

Mick Clarke, chief ex ecutive of the Passage, said George was "very much" willing to get "stuck in" to helping with the preparations for a meal for 150.

He said: "It was really about, 'Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in?' And he very much was.

"Very much like his dad, actually - just wanted to get stuck in and help.

"A lovely kid is how I would describe him, and he just really seemed very interested in the work that we do and particularly in talking to people who have used our services."

William and George enjoyed some competition while preparing the food.

Mick said: "William was on the sprouts, getting his sprouts ready so they could go into the steamer, and Prince George was helping with the Yorkshire puddings."

George signed The Passage's guest book on the same page that Diana and William had in December 1993.

Mick said: "[It was a] lovely, beautiful moment - I think particularly with Prince William pointing out to George, 'This is my mum's signature. This was the first time that she brought me here.'

"And it felt a bit like a proud dad moment, I thought, which was really lovely to see, because William is incredibly genuine and authentic, passionate about this issue and loves the passage.

"It just really felt that he was really proud to say, 'Look, this is a place that I'm passionate about. I'm really pleased to be able to share that with you and show it to you. He [George] was fascinated with it. He was like, 'Wow, OK.'"

"It kind of felt full circle, really - 1993 through to 2025, with William bringing George."

As Mick showed George around the centre, he told the prince about their No Night Out campaign, which aims to offer early support to prevent people from spending even one night on the streets.

He said: "I said, you know your dad's been involved with The Passage for many, many years. Your grandma took him to The Passage when he was about your age.

"And what you're going to be doing today is helping us prepare for our Christmas lunch, which is a really important day because it's for people who perhaps won't have a place that they can call home this Christmas."

George also helped volunteers create care packages of around 30 items, including £10 vouchers for Greggs, toiletries, snack bars and socks, which would be distributed to people unable to attend the lunch, and helped decorate a tree which had been donated from Westminster Abbey following his mother, Catherine, Princess of Wales' carol service earlier this month.