Prince William gets unexpected boost from Disney+ as streaming war with Harry hots up

Prince William's new documentary about his project to help end homelessness is set to be screened on ITV this week - and it's had an unexpected boost from Disney+ ahead of Prince Harry's Netflix documentary about polo

Royal fans are eagerly awaiting a brand new ITV documentary on Prince William's crusade to try to end homelessness.

The show, called Prince William : We Can End Homelessness, will be shown across Wednesday and Thursday nights on ITV1 and explore the first year of the Prince of Waleses' Homewards initiative, which aims to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms, "making it rare, brief and unrepeated". And in a boost for royal fans who aren't in the UK, it has been confirmed that international audiences will also be able to enjoy the show from Friday (November 1) on streaming service, Disney+.

This means it will be available to view before estranged brother Prince Harry's upcoming documentary uncovering the lives of polo players, which is not premiering on Netflix until December. It comes as a teaser for William's documentary shows him recalling playing chess and chatting with people during his first visit to The Passage homelessness charity with his mother, more than 30 years ago.

William said he was "a bit anxious as to what to expect" before his first visit, and remembered his mother – Diana, Princess of Wales – "making everyone feel relaxed and having a laugh and joking with everyone". He says: "My mother took me to The Passage. She took Harry and I both there.

"I must have been about 11, I think probably at the time, maybe 10. I’d never been to anything like that before, and I was a bit anxious as to what to expect. My mother went about her usual part of making everyone feel relaxed and having a laugh and joking with everyone.

"I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘well, if everyone’s not got a home, they’re all going to be really sad’. But it was incredible how happy an environment it was. I remember having some good conversations just playing chess and chatting. That’s when it dawned on me that there are other people out there who don’t have the same life as you do.

"When you’re quite small, you don’t really, you just think life is what you see in front of you and you don’t really have the concept to look elsewhere and it’s when you meet people, I did then, who put a different perspective in your head and say like, well, 'I was a living on the street last night’' and you’re like 'woah’' you know."

In September, the first teaser was released for POLO, a show Harry has worked on, which delves into the lives of professional polo players. Netflix said at the time: "POLO is a new documentary series that follows elite global players and offers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the fast-paced world of the sport. From Archewell Productions and Boardwalk Pictures. Premiering this December."

Netflix also treated fans to a sneak peek with four still images from the series, including a shot of three polo players mounted on their steeds and two competitors sprinting with mallets in pursuit of the ball.

Earlier this year in April, it was revealed that Harry had inked a deal with Netflix to produce a documentary series about the enigmatic sport of polo. The series promised to "provide viewers unprecedented access to the world of professional polo," according to a statement released at the time. The majority of the filming took place at the US Open Polo Championship in Florida.