Prince William to become Patron of the 2008 Lord Mayor's Appeal

Prince William is to become the Patron of the 2008 Lord Mayor’s Appeal.

Every year the Lord Mayor of the City of London chooses one or more charities to benefit from his appeal. This year the appeal is in aid of ‘Wellbeing of Women’, the only UK charity dedicated to solving the health problems that solely affect women, and ‘ORBIS’, the international blindness prevention charity.

Funds raised from the Lord Mayor’s Appeal will enable Wellbeing of Women to establish an international data resource and to fund research leading to more families being able to have healthy babies.

For ORBIS, funds raised will be used for the Lord Mayor’s childhood blindness programme, which aims to dramatically reduce the number of children who are needlessly blind in Rajasthan, India. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal will support the development of two specialist children’s eye care centres in Jaipur and Udaipur where there are currently no trained paediatric ophthalmologists.

Prince William said: “I am so pleased to be the Patron of the 2008 Lord Mayor’s Appeal. Becoming involved in this way is particularly special for me because of the past association and commitment of my mother, Diana, Princess of Wales to both Wellbeing of Women and ORBIS.

“These charities do such an amazing job in helping to solve women’s health problems and saving sight worldwide. I look forward to lending my support to their remarkable efforts over the coming year.”

Alderman David Lewis, the Lord Mayor Elect of the City of London said:  “It is wonderful that despite his heavy workload and commitment to the armed services, Prince William has agreed to be the Patron of my 2008 Lord Mayor’s Appeal.

“There are few people whose lives don’t depend on the progress and treatments that have been achieved in the area of women’s health; but there is a long way to go if we are to give every woman the chance of a healthy pregnancy free from complications. Wellbeing of Women will help more children to be born to achieve a healthy start in life.

“ORBIS supports children and families in desperate circumstances in the developing world. We want to help thousands of children in India to have the opportunity of good eyesight so that they can live as full and happy a life as possible.

“I very much appreciate the support of Prince William in helping us to invest in healthy lives, healthy vision and healthy futures.”

Prince William’s role as Patron of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal will last one year.