Prince William hailed for following in King Charles footsteps as he teases upcoming plans

Prince William hailed for following in King Charles footsteps as he teases upcoming plans

Prince William speaking at a previous Earthshot Prize Awards.

BBC
Ed Griffiths

By Ed Griffiths


Published: 30/10/2024

- 10:36

Updated: 30/10/2024

- 10:36

The Prince of Wales will embark on a solo trip to South Africa, while Kate stays in the UK

Prince William has been hailed for following the footsteps of his father, King Charles.

The Prince of Wales teased his upcoming trip to Cape Town to attend The Earthshot Prize 2024 in person on November 6, via his official social media account.


The 42-year-old posted a video of past ceremonies with high-profile environmentalist celebrities presenting the award to the previous winners.

The video message starts with a rewind animation and follows various celebrities speeches clipped together to present a message.

King Charles and Prince William

Prince William has been hailed for following the footsteps of his father, King Charles.

PA

The video said: "Hello Earth lovers, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Earthshot Prize. The biggest environment awards on the planet. The impossible can be made possible. Inspiring winners and global stars."

David Attenborough added: "Building optimism by finding innovative and brilliant solutions to the world's challenges."

In the video, Prince William said: "The spirit of ingenuity and the ability to inspire change surrounds us all, no matter where you are."

The heir to the throne also confirmed that this year's winners will receive a £1million reward to turn their solutions to help the environment into real-life practices.

The video was captioned: "#EarthshotCapeTown, Coming Soon. On Wednesday 6 November, 15 extraordinary solutions to repair our planet will be celebrated at The Earthshot Prize 2024, live from South Africa.

"This year's five winners will each be awarded £1million to scale their solutions. Stream the show live on Earthshot YouTube and across @multichoice_group - we can't wait to see you there!"

Fans have praised the future King for following in the footsteps of his father, King Charles, and Prince Philip, who were both passionate about protecting the environment.

One user commented: "Great initiative! Keeping the great job of Prince Philip and King Charles III. This family is doing a wonderful job of protecting the environment. Thank you."

Prince William/Earthshot finalists

This years 15 finalists come from a record number of countries

EARTHSHOT PRIZE

A second user said: “A few more days and the show in Cape Town begins! The world is changing and the world needs us! William does a lot about his projects and enchants people, like his mother Lady Diana did so many things. She is proud of you William!”

Another said: So excited!!! Can't wait to see all the amazing work get honoured! Hoping Princess Catherine feels well enough to join as well.

Princess Kate is not expected to make the trip with her husband, and instead will stay in the UK with their three children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.

She continues to prioritise her family and health recovery after completing chemotherapy treatment.

King CharlesKing Charles speaking at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in SamoaPA

King Charles recently spoke about the "the existential threat of climate change," in a 12-minute speech at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa.

The King said: "I have spoken with many of you in the recent past, and I now find that climate change is raised as a primary concern, again and again. We are well past believing it is a problem for the future, since it is already, already undermining the development gains we have long fought for.

"This year alone, we have seen terrifying storms in the Caribbean, devastating flooding in East Africa and catastrophic wildfires in Canada. Lives, livelihoods and human rights are at risk across the Commonwealth.

"I can only offer every encouragement for action, with unequivocal determination, to arrest rising temperatures by cutting emissions, building resilience as far as possible to both the current and forecast impacts of climate change, and conserving and restoring Nature both on land and in the sea."

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