Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to eradicate stigma and discrimination around HIV, and to promote good sexual health (including safe sex). The Trust is generally considered the UK's leading HIV and AIDS charity, and the largest in Europe. It is also the lead organisation for Public Health England's HIV prevention partnership HIV Prevention England. History Established in 1982, Terrence Higgins Trust was the first charity in the UK to be set up in response to HIV and AIDS. It was initially named Terry Higgins Trust, after Terry Higgins, who died aged 37 on 4 July 1982 at St Thomas' Hospital, London. He was among the first people in the UK known to have died from the AIDS virus, which was only identified the previous year. Princess Margaret was an early prominent patron, becoming the first member of the royal family to publicly associate themselves with a charity focusing on AIDS and sexual health. Terry's close friends Martyn Butler, Tony Harris-Calvert and Terry's partner Rupert Whitaker along with other friends started the Trust to raise funds for research as a way of preventing suffering due to AIDS. Shortly, with the generation of a groundswell of support for the organisation at a meeting at Red Lion Square, Tony Whitehead and others joined the group and formally founded the organisation and saw it through registration as a charity to provide direct services to those affected by HIV. The trust was named after Terry to personalise and humanise the issue of AIDS. It was formalised in August 1983 when it adopted a constitution and opened a bank account, and the name of the trust was changed (Terrence rather than Terry) to sound more formal. It incorporated as a limited company in November 1983 and gained charitable status in January 1984. Since its inception 12 years ago, most of its fund-raising events have been hip and low-key affairs, from its first disco at the London club Heaven to gala screenings of Dracula and the comedy shows Hysteria and Filth... Hysteria 1 was a comedy benefit for Terrence Higgins Trust, produced by Stephen Fry. Hysteria 2, on 18 September 1989 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, benefited Terrence Higgins