Prince William, Kate Middleton mark Volunteers Week with video call

Kate Middleton has been making "check in and chat" calls secretly to people who are self-isolating. She has become an NHS volunteer responder along with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Sophie Wessex and Duchess of Gloucester. Meanwhile Prince William has been manning a helpline for people in crisis as one of 2,000 volunteers who have trained to help people contacting the Shout85258 text messaging service.

This was revealed when Kensington Palace shared an unseen clip from May 15 to mark Volunteer Week. It was confirmed that Prince William had completed his 25 hours of online training to help service users work through their problems. Hello reports that the Duke of Cambridge is an active volunteer.

William, 37, had earlier revealed his plans to train for the role on a visit to Devon in September. The duke worked quietly as a volunteer, and the work was nowhere mentioned because it could have led to the service being inundated by phone calls from people hoping to speak to the royal.

"I'm going to share a little secret with you guys but I'm actually on the platform volunteering," William said during a video call to Shout volunteers. "Are you? That's amazing," replied a caller named Jo Irwin.

William and Kate thanked volunteers working to help their communities through the pandemic. Along with Sophie, they made video calls to organisations in West Yorkshire and Wales. They made a call to Conscious Youth, which supports young people from African-American and other ethnic minority backgrounds in Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and other parts of Kirklees.

They also made calls to volunteers from Machynlleth Community Corona Response, in Powys, mid Wales. The volunteers help vulnerable people with shopping, cooking and by manning a telephone helpline.

As part of NHS voluntary service, the Duchess of Cambridge made video call to Donna Williams, 42, a mother-of-two who is currently looking after her daughter who has a rare form of Type 1 Diabetes.

"One of the things that would be amazing, I think, is if everyone in their communities was to carry on and still celebrate volunteering in the way that they have been during the pandemic. Everyone's got something to give back," said Kate.