In 2024, the King’s Trust joined forces with the Elba Hope Foundation, a charity founded by actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina.
They launched Creative Futures, a range of free courses designed to inspire young people through the arts, building their skills and confidence to work in the creative industries.
Elba was himself supported by the King’s Trust, formerly the Prince’s Trust, when he was a teenager.
Another beneficiary, 19-year-old Mariama Gallow, from Manchester, read her own poem to the King.
Gallow did a creative music course and went on to learn about health and social care.
The King told her he had already seen an example of her poetry, which Elba had shown him on a piece of film.
He said: “It was fantastic. Really, really good.”