The Princess of Wales sported a finger injury from a trampolining accident during a visit to a men’s prison in Surrey. Photo / Getty Images
The Princess of Wales sported a finger injury from a trampolining accident during a visit to a men’s prison in Surrey. Photo / Getty Images
The Princess of Wales sported a finger injury from a trampolining accident during a visit to a men’s prison in Surrey, where she learned about how prisoners are supported through addiction.
As patron of The Forward Trust, the princess visited HMP High Down on Tuesday to see the charity’s work in action.
She started the tour with the normal security checks that those visiting prisoners must undergo, and had two injured fingers strapped together.
She revealed during the tour that she had suffered the small injury during a trampolining session at her home in Windsor, and a Kensington Palace spokesman said it was “a small injury, nothing serious”.
During the visit, the princess heard about how The Forward Trust was working to support some of the inmates to manage their addiction and to help break the intergenerational trauma of addiction.
The Princess of Wales underwent a standard security check at the prison, including a sniffer dog. Photo / Getty Images
The charity delivers a range of services at HMP High Down, including an intensive abstinence-based programme called The Bridge and a course of workshops focused on restoring communication and confidence with loved ones, titled Family Ties.
Tuesday’s visit was not the first time the Princess, 41, has toured a prison.
She visited HMP Send, near Woking in Surrey, in 2015 and again in 2020, to talk to the female prisoners about their history of offending and addiction.
Many told her they traced their crimes back to troubled childhoods involving domestic violence, absent parents and drug and alcohol abuse.
“It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you faced,” the then Duchess of Cambridge told a group of ex-offenders, including three women she met in 2015 when they were serving sentences.
On Tuesday, the princess also visited The Clink, an on-site restaurant that trains prisoners in hospitality, where she met with former inmates and Forward Trust members.
During the visit she spoke to those who have worked with the charity in prison to learn how they were supported through their addiction management and recovery.
The princess had her fingers strapped during the prison visit after injuring herself on a trampoline at home in Windsor. Photo / Getty Images
Her visit was timed before Addiction Awareness Week, which takes place from October 28 to November 4.
The princess has worked with addiction charities for more than a decade and it is understood tackling these difficult mental health issues has informed much of her work on improving children’s early years, her lifelong passion.
She became patron of The Forward Trust in June 2021, when the charity merged with Action on Addiction, one of the princess’s first patronages in 2012.
The charity carries out work in 25 UK prisons and helps people address everything from substance misuse and mental health, to finding employment and housing after leaving prison.
High Down is a Category C men’s prison and young offender institution that is home to about 1100 prisoners.
