Prince Harry takes the streets of London in a race with homeless young people

Watching Prince William's younger brother run through the streets of north London took several local neighbors by surprise

Prince Harry left behind the formal attire for one of his official appointments. Instead of a shirt and trousers, the 32-year-old Roy went out with sports socks, shorts and black sweaters on Thursday to surprise passers-by with a run in north London. Harry went on a motivational race with a group of homeless young people who are benefited by The Running Charity. The organization aims to increase confidence in children while encouraging them to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Harry and the group, who could also see a protective officer of the Met Police, ran for 17 minutes, through the leafy residential streets of Willesden Green. For Prince William's brother the two-kilometer race was very simple compared to the half marathons to which he was accustomed during his time in the fleet.

"He did not find anything heavy, I think he was training for this day. Everything was very simple," said Claude Umuhire, 26, and part of the charity program that went from being a homeless kid to a competitor in the London Marathon . Claude led the group into a warm-up session followed by a slight run, and although he tried to exhaust the Prince's energy and stamina, he failed. "I tried to be a little hard on the warm-up, but it did quite well. I only looked at each time I said, 'Five more squats!'"

During the race, several people recognized Harry running through his neighborhood. Even a woman pulling her car out of the garage, realized that the fifth on the London throne line was near her, she immediately got into her car to follow the group's steps and take some pictures of the The youngest son of Princess Diana. "In addition, there was a man waiting for the traffic lights to change and he had to look twice to confirm that his eyes did not lie. The joy in his face was very funny." His eyes widened and he was happy to have been Witness of the race, "added Claude.

The homeless youth with whom Prince Harry ran are residents of the Depaul hostel, located in the north-east of London. That same hostel was opened by Princess Diana in 1995. "She really cared about young people and used to come in secret to play ball games with them," recalled Martin Houghton-Brown, British executive director of the hostel group Depaul.