Charities
Although Concert for Diana was first and foremost a tribute concert, Princes William and Harry selected eight charities to receive any net proceeds of the day. In the event a total of £1.6m was distributed after the Concert in equal shares to these beneficiaries, with each charity receiving £200,000.
The eight beneficiaries were the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which was founded after the Princess’s death; Sentebale, the Lesotho children’s charity which Prince Harry founded in memory of his mother; and the six organisations of which the Princess was Patron at the time of her death: the Royal Marsden and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, Centrepoint (of which Prince William is now Patron), The Leprosy Mission, The National AIDS Trust and English National Ballet, who also performed at the concert.
Princess Diana's Patronages and Memorial Fund
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund works to raise awareness of issues that were close to Diana’s heart, and provides grants to support charitable organisations in the UK and abroad, working in areas related to the kinds of causes she championed. These include projects to assist those living with HIV/AIDS, communities affected by landmines, and other vulnerable and marginalised people. The Concert for Diana will also support the work of the five organisations other than Centrepoint of which the Princess was Patron at the time of her death – the Royal Marsden and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, The Leprosy Mission, The National AIDS Trust and the English National Ballet.
Prince William
Centrepoint, UK
Prince William is Patron of Centrepoint, the UK's leading youth homelessness charity. As a child, the Prince visited homelessness charities in London with his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. William also visited a homelessness charity in Newport, Wales with his father just before his 21st birthday. In 2005, William spent a few days volunteering at Centrepoint working with young people. Prince William said "Charities like Centrepoint do such an amazing job in helping to combat homelessness and social exclusion and I just wanted to lend my support to their remarkable efforts."
Prince Harry
Sentebale, Lesotho
In April 2006, Prince Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso founded a new charity called Sentebale to help vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho, particularly those orphaned as a result of AIDS. The new organisation is a major step in Prince Harry's pledge to continue his mother's work with disadvantaged children. He co-founded the charity with Lesotho's Prince Seeiso whose own mother Queen Mamohato, a much-loved figure in the country, died in 2003. Harry revealed: "Sentebale means 'forget me not'. We chose the name as a memorial to the charity work of our own mothers, as well as a reminder to us all not to forget Lesotho or its children ."