Richard Henderson, 48, who manages the White Rose Centre in Rhyl will be one of eight business leaders from Wales meeting the prince next week.

He was asked to join the prince's Seeing is Believing initiative which aims to combat the most pressing social issues such as homelessness and crime.

Mr Henderson has never forgotten his own experiences as a homeless teenager and believes a new initiative is needed to combat the problem in Wales.

"My ideas are that to move on from being homeless you have to get a job so I'm going to invite homless people to gain some work experience in the centre," he said.

"I experienced homelessness myself when I left home aged eighteen and ended up sleeping on park benches in Edinburgh.

"All I had was a rucksack and £6 and that's when the adventure began.

"I was living on shortbread biscuits and even went for days without food until I realised that I was hungry."

It took six weeks for Richard to find a job as a commis chef and with his first week's wage of £38 he found a B&B for £3 per night.

"Even though I had to share a room with a stranger I was ecstatic at being off the streets," he recalls.

"If I hadn't secured employment I would have had to carry on sleeping rough and my situation would have been desperate."

Finding a job meant Richard was able to turn his life around and he eventually graduated from Edinburgh University with a law degree.

He says he's delighted with the opportunity to meet Prince Charles and hopes to use his own experiences to help others in the community.