Prince William has taken his oldest son, Prince George, to a homelessness charity in London where ‍the pair helped make Christmas lunch for people in need, Kensington Palace says.

The visit was particularly poignant for William, heir to the throne, ⁠because his late mother Princess Diana took him to the same charity when he was 11 years old, an experience that inspired him to set up a program aimed at ending homelessness.

During the ‌trip to ​the charity’s centre, named The Passage, George signed the visitor’s ‍book on the same page previously signed by Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 when William was 15 years old.

The Prince and Princess of Wales shared side-by-side photos of Diana and a young William at the shelter in December 1993 with a snap of the grown prince with George and the charity’s head chef.

“Christmas at The Passage, 32 years apart,” it was captioned.

The visit was on December 16, with the footage and photos released at the weekend. They show George, 12, and his father wearing aprons and working in the kitchen, ​putting food in baking trays, while ‌they talk and laugh with the centre’s catering staff, before heading out to lay long tables ​with napkins and Christmas crackers.

The Passage chief executive Mick Clarke said he told the young prince to “get stuck in”.

“I said, we’ve just got a number of different things for you to help us with. So, time to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in,” he said.

“He was well up for it. Absolutely. Very much like his dad in terms of he just wanted to crack on, which was lovely.”

Kensington Palace said it was “important to the Prince ‍of Wales to share with Prince George the work of The Passage and to spend time volunteering alongside the team”.

“They both ​greatly enjoyed meeting staff, volunteers and service ​users as well as learning more about the charity’s work,” it said.

William spoke in a documentary about homelessness released last year of his first visit to the charity.

“I’d never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious as to what to expect,” he said.

“I remember having some good conversations just playing chess and chatting. That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.”

As well as working to try to stop people becoming homeless, the Prince of Wales also champions environmental causes and campaigns for more openness about mental health issues.

The visit is the latest step in Prince George’s gradual immersion into royal duties.

In May, he joined William and mum Kate at a lunch at Buckingham Palace for World War II veterans to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. In November, he accompanied Kate to the Festival of Remembrance, marking his first Remembrance Day event with the royals.

William, Kate and George and his siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, are expected to spend Christmas at the King’s Sandringham estate in eastern England.

-with AAP