PRINCE William will follow his late mother's footsteps next week when he visits a charity for the homeless in Newport, Palace officials have revealed.

The prince, who is marking his 21st birthday with a visit to Wales on Thursday, June 19, chose the charity because of the commitment Princess Diana had to helping the homeless, a spokeswoman at St James' Palace says.

William and his father, the Prince of Wales, will begin the day at a food fair in Anglesey and then fly to Cardiff before being driven to Newport. As the Argus revealed on Saturday, they will visit Newport Action for Single Homeless, in George Street, at 2pm, to meet homeless people and staff at the centre.

Prince William, who is studying at St Andrew's University, Scotland, turns 21 only two days later, and will celebrate with a party at Windsor Castle.

Portraits of the prince by one of Diana's favourite photographers, Mario Testino, will be released the same day.

And the eyes of the world will be on Newport next week for this rare public appearance which marks William's birthday. The paparazzi will be praying he decides to have a go on a drumkit used by clients at the Newport centre.

The Palace spokeswoman said: "Homelessness was one of his mother's great causes and I think that was very much on William's mind when he chose what he wanted to do.

"He thought it would be fitting to do something rural and something urban, and he has been to Cardiff before and visited Swansea as part of the Golden Jubilee last year, so Newport was the next obvious location.

"This visit is obviously something that William very much wanted to do because he is the future Prince of Wales.

"It was very much his choice to do something with the homeless, and NASH has a very good reputation."

And the people of Newport are already looking forward to Prince William's visit.

Pat Ravenhill, 76, of New Street, Pill, will be taking her 15-year-old granddaughter and ten-year-old great-granddaughter along to see Wills.

She said: "I think there will be more of a crowd for Wills than there was for the Queen last year. He's very popular.

"I love the Royal Family and I always go anywhere to see them, and my grandchildren think he's lovely."