Prince Charles urges action to prevent coronavirus from ‘defining the prospects of a generation’

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Young people need help more than ever as they face “potentially devastating” problems with unemployment due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Prince of Wales said.

In a new video message, Prince Charles highlighted the impact the pandemic is having on unemployed youth and said now is the time to take action to prevent the crisis from “defining the prospects of a generation”.

Charles, who was speaking as the founder and president of youth charity The Prince's Trust, shared his concerns of a “terrible downward spiral” for young people who are facing a “double disaster” of the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions.

“In times of economic hardship it is often young people who are hardest hit and we know that many under 25s work in sectors such as hospitality and tourism, which have borne the brunt of this crisis,” Charles said.

“We also know the difficulties faced by a disrupted education, a loss of entry-level jobs and rising unemployment.

“It is a real challenge to thrive in the midst of chaos and economic disorder, but this is why my Trust was set up - to help people to a better future.”

The prince added that the Trust is working hard to help in this area, including matching employers to young people and establishing a Coronavirus Support Hub to provide support, guidance and resources to help young people navigate the testing economic times ahead.

The Trust has also established a jobs board, which currently has more than 250 live jobs across a range of sectors, and conducts a range of online “employability and enterprise sessions” for groups of young people.

Charles said he was “deeply grateful” to those donating to the charity, particularly its Young People Relief Fund, who were making “this important work” possible.

“Young people now need your support more than ever,” he said. “Their future is on the line, but together we can prevent this crisis from defining the prospects of a generation.”.

The Prince also told supporters they “have quite literally saved lives” with contributions to the Trust and that he hoped to support young people across the Commonwealth to “gain the practical skills and confidence needed to help them into work, education, training and self-employment”.

Referring to a worldwide “double disaster”, Charles added that the impact of the pandemic will be “enormous and the recovery extremely challenging”.

“Desperately high numbers of lives and livelihoods are being lost as this double disaster sweeps the globe. Although we all hope the pandemic will pass quickly, there are inevitable fears that the repercussions will be felt deeply by all of us for years to come,” he said.

“This challenge confronts us all and it is therefore vital that we share our experiences and co-ordinate our responses so that we can come back stronger.”