#Earthshot Week

[thewales-family]

The Prince of Wales visits Simon's Town Harbour to meet with volunteers of the National Seas Rescue Institute, in Cape Town, South Africa -November 7th 2024.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Prince of Wales Visits South Africa For The Earthshot Prize Awards — Day One

Prince William arrives to meet primary school children from Langa Township taking part in digital skills lessons on the Atlas DigiBus and takes part in a rugby coaching session with local school children during a visit to Ocean View Secondary School on 4 November 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa.

During his visit, The Prince of Wales attended the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards and engaged in various environmental initiatives and participated in events held in Cape Town as part of 'Earthshot Week.'

📸: Aaron Chown - Pool / Getty Images / Phil Noble-Pool / Getty Images)

[elennemigo]

What makes Benedict Cumberbatch optimistic? Passionate commitment to sustainability. #ClimateWeekNYC.

[world-of-wales]

THE PRINCE OF WALES HAS GIVEN AN INTERVIEW AT THE END OF HIS OFFICIAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA.

During the candid and emotional interview he admitted how the past few months had been ‘brutal’ due to the health scares The Princess of Wales and King Charles went through :

‘Honestly? It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult. But I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done. But from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.’

Speaking about the Princess of Wales he said that :

‘She’s doing well. Doing well.’

Speaking about what it meant to host the awards in Africa, a continent he connects very deeply to as he spent time there following his mother's passing and it is the place he proposed to The Princess of Wales as well, he said :

'Hearing the Circle of Life. I don’t know about everyone else, but hearing the Lion King and things like that gets me quite emotional, So, when they started singing and I saw the clips from the top of Table Mountain and we were all there and it’s happened. I did feel quite emotional.'

He then spoke about his children watching the awards saying :

'I don’t know yet. I haven’t clocked in with them yet but I hope they did.'

William added of his relaxed demeanour in Cape Town this week :

'It’s interesting you say that ’cause I couldn’t be less relaxed this year, so it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that. But it’s more a case of just crack on and you’ve got to keep going. I enjoy my work and I enjoy pacing myself and keeping sure I have got time for my family too.'

He also spoke about his family's opinions on his beard :

'Well Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears the first time I grew a beard, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second and I convinced her it was going to be okay'

He also spoke about his new role as the Prince of Wales and how he intends to 'royal' in a different way than his grandmother and father before him :

‘You mention the added responsibility and the freedom in the same sentence,’ he laughed. It’s a tricky one. Do I like more responsibility? No. Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot then yes. And that’s the future for me. It’s very important with my role and my platform, that I’m doing something for good. That I’m helping people’s lives and I’m doing something that is genuinely meaningful.’

William spoke about the BTS work that goes into setting up huge events like Earthshot successfully :

‘So, the Earthshot is a culmination if you like of all that put together. But it takes a lot of work, and there’s a lot of unseen stuff that goes on, a lot of meetings, a lot of people coming in, a lot of chatting and phone calls, letters, all trying to sort of make the Earthshot get to being the best possible entity it can be'

He talked about his frustrations over reluctance as well as more involvement from buisness & governments saying :

‘I’d like it to be more a team sport. And so, when you go and approach people...business...or even government...and say, listen, we’re building this incredible thing. Please come on board. Some people are extremely fast and keen to it. Others take a little bit longer and it’s those people who take a little bit longer, I’m like, guys, we just don’t have the time.'

'So, yes, I get a bit frustrated that it takes a long time to convince people that this is worthy of their attention. But I guess that’s the nature of a global environment prize, you start from scratch and it’s going to take a bit of time.'

On his hope for the solutions & the impact and his message to those who can invest, he said :

'So you guys have seen for yourselves the scale of the solutions. I mean, they cover all sectors in all walks of life. Brilliant people, some barely started, some been a bit more established and have a bit more money. But overall all doing fantastic work in the same direction. I think the key thing for us is how do we translate that into more impact, more scale, and ultimately, greater progress in tackling environmental challenges.’

On his hope for more involvement, ‘I definitely think so. We’re giving this amazing platform to all of them. And really it’s an amazing platform for business to come in and poach what they want. But if we keep waiting....we’re going to keep eating into time that we just don’t have. And so my message to business really is: hurry up and be courageous. Invest faster because we just don’t have that time.’

[theroyalsandi]

British Royal Family - The Prince of Wales and Nomzamo Mbatha, the host of the Earthshot Week, posing for a selfie with young people during the Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme in Cape Town, South Africa (Photos by Chris Jackson) | November 04, 2024

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

“Africa has always held a special place in my heart – as somewhere I found comfort as a teenager, where I proposed to my wife and most recently as the founding inspiration behind The Earthshot Prize. It was in Namibia in 2018 that I realised the power of how innovative, positive solutions to environmental problems could drive transformative change for humans and nature.  

I am proud that since its inception The Earthshot Prize has travelled to Europe, North America and Asia, spotlighting and scaling 45 groundbreaking solutions, all of which are having a tangible impact as we work as a global collective to secure the future of our planet. This week we’ll travel to South Africa to spotlight our next cohort of 15 Finalists and have the opportunity to join partners from across Africa to celebrate the inspiring approach to environmental innovation that is taking place across the continent.   

By the end of the week, I want The Earthshot Prize to have provided a platform to all those innovators bringing about change for their communities, encouraged potential investors to speed African solutions to scale and inspired young people across Africa who are engaged in climate issues. I firmly believe that if we come together with collective ambition and urgency, we can reshape the future of our planet.”

- The Prince of Wales, 2 November 2024.

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The Wales Family in 2023 ♛

So, coronations are less fun than I thought they'd be. Despite that, the coronation gave me some incredibly fun moments, from the Wales family volunteering together to the walkabout on The Mall, from seeing various royal families interacting (including besties Kate and Felipe!) to seeing the Princess of Wales on coronation day itself! In fact, we saw a lot of royal family interaction this year - William and Catherine travelled to Jordan for the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein to Rajwa al Saif, they hosted both the Crown Princely couple of Norway and the Crown Princess couple of Sweden at Windsor Castle, and long-time best buds Catherine and Felipe reunited at the Wimbledon Gentleman's Finals. Sport was another highlight of the year, with the Wales family attending rugby matches (x, x, x), tennis tournaments (x, x, x) and even appearing on a sporting podcast! Both William and Catherine gained several military positions during the year (x, x, x) and have had a go at driving armoured tanks. As well as working with their patronages, William and Catherine have been able to support their own interests. William has continued to promote the Earthshot Prize, and also started Homewards, an anti-homelessness initiative. Catherine, meanwhile, launched the next phase of her early years work with Shaping Us. And in a twist expected by no one, the Princess of Wales finally debuted the Strathmore Rose Tiara. On a personal level, William and Catherine gained a new nephew - little Inigo Middleton - as James and Alizee Middleton welcomed their first child. Next year, I am asking anyone who is listening for a week-long tour (or two!) because they have been sorely lacking this year! If not, I'd love to see William and Catherine continue to flourish in their new roles as Prince and Princess of Wales.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Will be interesting to see if we get full separate narratives from Harry and Meghan following this. Because I still think that Harry wants back in but Meghan doesn’t. Meghan just wants the APPEARANCE of being back in. she doesn’t want to step foot in UK to even be “‘part time working royal” nor does she want to spend two weeks at balmoral over summer with Charles and Camilla and maybe a few other family members. She wants to say she did while she’s on a private yacht off the coast of Italy. But Harry? Harry wants the machine back, because they have no foundation in the states. And while it’s been obvious to a large number of people I think it’s become impossible to ignore for him. He wants something that has chance to eclipse earthshot. He’s been far stricter on where he shows up in comparison to Meghan over the last year or so.

He’s not going to eclipse Earthshot. He’s not going to be allowed back into the family.

They’re not even going about it the right way. This book could have been great publicity for their future projects, but they have no future projects. All they have is hate and resentment. That’s all they focus on.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

A Year in Review: All the times Meghan Markle been publicly called out in 2023. Highlights and favorite #MarkleMoment from last year? 📌Part 2 of 2

These are her humiliating moments over past year that she’s been publicly called out for in some way. All with proof, all archived from media reports around the world. Get cozy, save this post, and as always, appreciate the upvotes so it doesn't get targeted for downvotes! Posting it now as many of us will be celebrating Christmas with our loved ones. Although we are a diverse bunch, this unites us all :)

Here’s some from 2022 to inspire you:

Harry and Megan of “overseas”

the Funeral candle

no Jubilee balcony

voetsek Megan

I love the part where…(YouTube comments on their Netflix trailer)

Marriott Meg

12% Rotten Tomatoes rating for Netflix flopumentary, with her cutesy (mocking) curtesy

What was your favourite from 2023?

Meg inexplicably marching with the Invictus vets, at the front, while Harry is literally on the sidelines. https://archive.ph/wip/VG5SP

Meg wears a JCrew sweater to the Games. Her fans claim the Meghan effect crashed the site. JCrew comes out faster than Dior to clarify it was a confirmed outage for a website update.https://archive.ph/wufbS

Archetypes trademark abandoned. So much for the other platforms manifested clamouring for it. https://archive.ph/wip/yhziu

Embarrassing video at the fundraiser with Kevin Costner where she assumes she’s going to be given the mic by virtue of her being there, reached for it, and is very intentionally avoided and not given it. https://archive.ph/yeZDN

Despite the NDA attempts, information on how the NY Bench faux Royal visit does not let anyone speak negatively about her visit. Ever. She also demanded a new carpet. https://archive.ph/qAhnb

Snubbed by the Beckhams on their far more popular Netflix documentary. “Humiliated” by the snub from the Clooneys at their New York Foundation for Justice event.https://archive.ph/wip/GsB7j

Snubbed by Kim K birthday party, despite earlier pics with Doria and days before floating PR that Meg may do a cameo on KUWTK. Compounded by Kylie’s ‘boyfriend’ Chalomet talking about the Worldwide Privacy Tour earlier in the week. https://archive.ph/wip/BGvVP

Mocked on Family Guy for Netflix contract getting paid for nothing/ spon con Insta for Del Taco. Del Taco joins in and tweets about it. https://archive.ph/wip/Sm56V

Meg manifests a deal with Audible. Audible spokesperson shuts that down. https://archive.ph/KTLnP

William lands in Singapore for Earthshot to lit up architecture, Union Jack waving crowds, and an official tree planting at the airport. Meg and H attempt to compete by releasing a ‘candid’ pic of them at Katy Perry’s Las Vegas show (implying the standing people, phones were for them and not Celine Dion who walked in behind them). Cameron Diaz was also there, but didn’t get pics sold the same way. None of the other celebs present interact with them on camera. https://archive.ph/gnpjA

Dior signs Meg. No, not that Meg, but Meg the actress who plays Kate Middleton on the Crown. https://archive.ph/wip/lH6dY

Harry and Meg highly publicize their birthday call to Charles. The Palace discretely responds with detailed full itinerary of Charles’s busy day and evening, plus the press runs the fact that Charles doesn’t have a cell phone. Sussexes double down and pivot to it somehow being a prerecorded message sent (to where?) with Archie and Lili singing happy birthday. The world laughs or ignores them. https://archive.ph/i0uz8

Move along Meg on TikTok, after the video of her refusing to leave her basking on the press carpet at the Variety awards. Bonus is the real celebs inside clearly refused any pictures with her. The next day it’s confirmed she wasn’t even on the Guest List, which explains the Table 12 seating in no star names social Siberia. https://archive.ph/uC4Y8

Harry and Meg graciously are open to an invite for Christmas. Palace guest list leaks a day later, NFI. https://archive.ph/wip/0dEoi

Endgame is published. Omid claims to not be a friend of Meghan. Two Royal racist names are leaked to the Dutch publication based on Meg’s letter to Charles post Megxit. Omid blames the translator. No one publicly appears to believe them. There is not one single positive review of Endgame in major world newspapers. Omid later in the week acknowledges the names were in the Dutch manuscript. https://archive.ph/wip/Lr8XR

Hollywood Reporter lists Harry and Meghan as one of the biggest losers of 2023. https://archive.ph/E4hUt

Kitson’s Holiday Hypocrisy celeb window display in LA features Harry and Meg. Tik Tok notices. https://archive.ph/7yA3F

Ranker poll has both Meghan (#2) and Harry (#6) in the Top 10 list for Most Disliked Celebrities of 2023. Oprah, Hilary Baldwin,Ellen, Amber Heard (#1), and Bill Cosby also make the list. Update: They've recently become #1 and #4. https://archive.ph/OpKH5

Archewell 2022-2023 Impact Report highlighting ‘Restoring Trust in Information’, including ethical journalism, drops the same day Harry is fined $60K in court for providing misleading information - where he’s suing a newspaper. Court documents call it “ironic” given the “Duke of Sussex is responsible for misleading the court.” https://archive.ph/wip/1YtSe

Archewell’s 2022 financials reveal they only raised $2 mil (two anonymous $1 mil donations) vs $13 mill (also two anonymous donations) in 2021. Press brand it a “failure.” Notice they literally had only 4 donations in two years. https://archive.ph/wip/LqnuL

Not invited to any parties for Art Basel in Miami. Back in 2014, Markus organized a Soho party, invited Meg, and sat her next to Misha Nonoo. Context shows Meg has even less clout now than her pre Royal days.https://archive.ph/wip/aKYPL

Christmas card released. Largely ignored by world media. The response from other media: where are the kids? Called out for its embarrassing corporate look. https://archive.ph/fldEw

WME is "horrified" by Meghan Markle's sinking brand and association with Endgame, and may drop her in 2024. https://archive.ph/mye6j

(Honorable mentions to specific Harry’s moments: with Charles too busy to met, not going to France and hiking in Transylvania, and “in the realms of total speculation”. Harry pitches a Spotify show interviewing Putin, Zuckerberg, the Pope, etc on their shared bond of childhood trauma, Spare the most dumped holiday book of 2023. “Peace talks” between KCIII and Harry since he’s nearby in Germany for Invictus shut down less than 24h later. Persona non grata).

​Which ones did you not know or forget about?

It's been quite the year! To quote the Sussexes, thanks for all the support in 2023!

post link: A Year in Review: All the times Meghan Markle been publicly called out in 2023. Highlights and favorite #MarkleMoment from last year? : SaintMeghanMarkle (reddit.com)

author: somespeculation

submitted: December 17, 2023 at 02:25PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[thewales-family]

The Prince of Wales takes part in a traditional fish brai lunch with Heidi Klum, Winnie Harlow, Billy Porter and Tobe Nwigwe as he visits Kalk Bay Harbour to highlight the contributions of 2023 Earthshot Finalist, Abalobi during the 'Earthshot Week', in Cape Town, South Africa -November 7th 2024.

📷 (1) : Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[elennemigo]

31 (August. I thought this one was on sept 1st by I was wrong so here it is.)

★ Benedict arrived at the Venice Film Festival.

4

★ Benedict attended Miu Miu Women’s Tales event in Venice. x x

★ He also assisted to the Aston Martin Vanquish launch event in Venice. Gallery / clips (my post)

7

★ Benedict´s toast and speech during a special gala for Sophie´s Salt of the Earth film. (more here)

9

★New Benedict pic.

12

★ National Theatre Live announced their plays will come to Latin America (and Spain) with Spanish subtitles. Including Hamlet and Frankestein.

13

★ Benedict and Sophie attended a dinner event to celebrate Naomi Campbell.

24

★ Benedict and Sophie participated in the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit. (my post)

26

★ Benedict and Sophie Hunter attended an event at the British Embassy in NYC, during the United Nations General Assembly Week. (video and pics x, x)

30

★ Benedict became ambassador for the KOKO Foundation.

★ And he will be attending a special fundraising edition of Letters Live.

✧ ── ⋅ FIN ⋅ ── ✧

[charlotte-of-wales]

Africa has always held a special place in my heart – as somewhere I found comfort as a teenager, where I proposed to my wife and most recently as the founding inspiration behind The @EarthshotPrize. It was in Namibia in 2018 that I realised the power of how innovative, positive solutions to environmental problems could drive transformative change for humans and nature.

I am proud that since its inception The Earthshot Prize has travelled to Europe, North America and Asia, spotlighting and scaling 45 groundbreaking solutions, all of which are having a tangible impact as we work as a global collective to secure the future of our planet. This week we’ll travel to South Africa to spotlight our next cohort of 15 Finalists and have the opportunity to join partners from across Africa to celebrate the inspiring approach to environmental innovation that is taking place across the continent. 

 By the end of the week, I want The Earthshot Prize to have provided a platform to all those innovators bringing about change for their communities, encouraged potential investors to speed African solutions to scale and inspired young people across Africa who are engaged in climate issues. I firmly believe that if we come together with collective ambition and urgency, we can reshape the future of our planet.”

- The Prince of Wales

[world-of-wales]

HAPPY 42ND BIRTHDAY TO HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, WILLIAM ARTHUR PHILIP LOUIS ♡

On 21 June 1982, Prince William was born to Diana and Charles, then known as Prince and Princess of Wales in St Mary's Hospital, London, at at 21:03 BST. He was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother Elizabeth II and was the first child born to a Prince and Princess of Wales since Prince John's birth in July 1905.

The little prince's name was announced on 28 June as William Arthur Philip Louis. Wills was christened in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, on 4 August.

William studied at Jane Mynors' nursery school and Wetherby School in London before joining Ludgrove. He was subsequently admitted to Eton College, studying geography, biology, and history at the A-level.

The Prince undertook a gap year taking part in British Army training exercises in Belize, working on English dairy farms, and as part of the Raleigh International programme in southern Chile, William worked for ten weeks on local construction projects and taught English.

In 2001, William enrolled at the University of St Andrews, initially to study Art History but then changed his field of study to Geography with the support of the love of his life Catherine Elizabeth Middleton who he met while at school.

Will and Cat fell in love during their time at uni, and married at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. The couple have three adorable cupcakes Prince George (b.2013), Princess Charlotte (b.2015) and Prince Louis (b.2018). The family of five divide time between their official residence, Kensington Palace and their two private residences - Amner Hall & Adelaide Cottage.

After university, William trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 2008, he graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and joined the RAF Search and Rescue Force in early 2009. He transferred to RAF Valley, Anglesey, to receive training on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter, which made him the first member of the British royal family since Henry VII to live in Wales.

During his active career as a Search and Rescue Pilot, William conducted 156 search and rescue operations, which resulted in 149 people being rescued. He then served as a full-time pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance starting in July 2015, donating his full salary to the EAAA charity.

Working with all branches of the military, he holds the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, Commander in the Navy and Wing Commander in the Air-Force

Upon their wedding, WillCat became HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Earl and Countess of Strathearn and Baron and Lady Carrickfergus. He became the heir apparent on 8 September 2022, receiving the titles of the Duke of Cornwall & The Duke of Rothesay. William & Catherine were made The Prince and Princess of Wales by Kimg Charles on 9 September 2022. Additionally, William also became the Prince & High Steward of Scotland, Earl of Chester, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles, and Baron Renfrew.

As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The King, both in the UK and overseas, The Prince devotes his time supporting a number of charitable causes and organisations with some of his key areas of interest being Mental health, Conservation, Homelessness, Sports and Emergency Workers.

He has undertaken several overseas trips representing the monarch, covering a wide array of countries like Australia, Canada, Namibia, Malaysia, South Africa, Tanzania, Pakistan Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, France, India, The Bahamas, Belize, Afghanistan etc ; He is also is also a founder of various initiatives like United For Wildlife, Heads Together, Earthshot and Homewards.

[houseofbrat]

It appears that William and Catherine are demanding half in and half out, and yet the Sussexs were nailed to the cross for similar demands. Not that I think these demands are reasonable, but they are IDENTICAL. Who knows what William does with his day, but Catherine seemingly wants to faff around with her camera and plant daffodils with her children and attend four events a year and, essentially, abandon her patronages. William couldn't even be arsed to look semi-professional at Earthshot.

I don't even know what to say about it anymore.

It's so obvious that Will & Kate aren't doing their jobs. Kate's "cancer" is just an excuse to hide behind. It's really only the diehard Wales fans who keep making excuses for them now.

William can hardly make a visit unless it's related to his foundation initiatives. Kate isn't going to do anything except the major events--Trooping, Remembrance, Christmas concert, and maybe Wimbledon in the future.

Otherwise, Will & Kate don't care, but their diehard fans will keep insisting that they are going to be the bestest royals who ever royaled.

Here are some throw backs from @helenaaurelia's blog on W&K's work focus:

It’s extremely important. It’s just not her job. Her job is not to be running a foundation that changes how babies will be treated in the first weeks of their lives. That’s for wealthy philanthropists or for the government. Her job is to thank the people whose job it is for doing all of it. If Kate wants to be a philanthropist in her spare time,(and with other people’s money) kudos for her and I’m sure babies all around the world will benefit from her work. But she’s doing it at the expense of doing her job. To give a drastic example, let’s say a surgeon develops a cure for cancer, but he does it while he was supposed to be operating on his patients. He should be given loads of awards and praise for the cure, but he should also have been fired from his job as a surgeon the first time he just didn’t show up when he was supposed to perform a surgery. It isn’t the job of a surgeon to find a cure for cancer, it’s his job to operate on patients.

and

They are serving the nation. It’s just that they are doing it the way they want to do it rather than the way the nation seems to want them to do it.

and

I don’t think that she’s doing it for her image, but because she wants to make a difference. I just also think that it isn’t her job to make a difference, at least not like that. Its her job to go and congragulate people, or comfort them, or encourage them. She’s doing it now, but it does seem wrong that people who work in maternity wards have a much higher chance of meeting the Princess of Wales than just about anyone else in a hospital, or that primary school teachers are more likely to get a royal visit than sanitation workers. I personally would much rather visit a day care than a sewage treatment plant, but the fact remains that both are very necessary for society, and the sanitation workers probably need the appreciation more than the teachers, since they aren’t often recognized as much. It’s one of the reasons I admire Anne so much. She actually paid an official visit to the London Sewers, to celebrate those who work there.

and

I used to think it was a great idea but recently I’ve noticed the issue that you pointed out. I’m starting to think that only focusing on the causes you feel passionate about is a form of selfishness, and that their main goal should be serving their country. They should be visiting places all around the country and be going to places that the people in that part of the country want to show them rather than the places that they personally care about. No one knows what causes Elizabeth II was the most passionate about because she treated all engagements and all duties the same. I’m sure she would have loved to spend most of her time at animal rescue places , especially those with horses or dogs, but she didn’t. She served her people the way they wanted her to serve them, rather than the way she felt was best.

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

The Times

Extracts: The hardest year of my life: Prince William opens up about Kate’s cancer

The Princess of Wales had major abdominal surgery in January. She later revealed that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer had been found. The King also had cancer diagnosed and began treatment earlier this year.

While the princess has spoken about her own journey back to health, William gave the first indication of his own experience as he marked the end of a successful four-day visit to Cape Town.

Speaking in the Portside Tower in central CapeTown, which had been set up as a hub for his Earthshot prize week, William sighed and said: “Honestly? It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.”

“But I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done.”

“But from a personal family point of view, it’s been brutal.”

While some commentators remarked on him appearing to be “relaxed” as he hosted the Earthshot prize ceremony on Wednesday evening, William implied that looks can be deceiving.

He said: “It’s interesting you say that, because I couldn’t be less relaxed this year. But it’s more a case of just crack on and you’ve got to keep going. I enjoy my work and I enjoy pacing myself and keeping sure that I have got time for my family too.”

The past two years have seen a major shift for William. As heir apparent after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, William has increasingly adopted a statesman-like role.

In 1947 his grandmother gave an address from Cape Town in which she pledged to serve for her whole life — whether it be long or short.

Nearly 80 years later, William was there under his own steam — with a week of engagements to celebrate the initiative he started four years ago to promote environmental innovations. However, he is also stepping into a more diplomatic role.

William met President Ramaphosa for a wide-ranging discussion. Alongside David Lammy, the foreign secretary, William discussed the relationship between the UK and South Africa. Antony Phillipson, the British High Commissioner to South Africa, described it as the “highest level” meeting.

So, does William relish the double-edged sword of responsibility and freedom that comes with his new role? “It’s a tricky one. Do I like more responsibility? No. Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot? Then, yes. And that’s the future for me. It’s very important with my role and my platform that I’m doing something for good. That I’m helping people’s lives and I’m doing something that is genuinely meaningful.

“So, the Earthshot [prize] is a culmination, if you like, of all that put together. But it takes a lot of work, and there’s a lot of unseen stuff that goes on, a lot of meetings, a lot of people coming in, a lot of chatting and phone calls, letters, all trying to sort of make the Earthshot get to being the best possible entity it can be.”

But he admits he is frustrated sometimes by the slow pace of businesses and governments to adopt new green technologies.

He said: “I’d like it to be more a team sport. And so, when you go and approach people and say — like business or whoever, or even government — when you approach them and say, ‘Listen, we’re building this incredible thing, please come on board’, some people are extremely fast and keen to it. Others take a little bit longer and it’s those people who take a little bit longer, I’m like, ‘Guys, we just don’t have the time’.”

“So, yes, I get a bit frustrated that it takes a long time to convince people that this is worthy of their attention. But I guess that’s the nature of a global environment prize, you start from scratch and it’s going to take a bit of time.”

William may well have limited time in this role. After all, he doesn’t know how long he will work on these projects as Prince of Wales or when duty will call him to take the top job.

Wednesday night’s ceremony was the biggest of its kind, broadcast live across the world via YouTube and a major African broadcaster.

It opened with a performance of the Lion King’s Circle of Life, which started with a pre-recorded video from the top of Cape Town’s Table Mountain and ended with a live performance in the megadome, a purpose built venue for the awards ceremony, which took 600 people several months to construct.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but hearing the Lion King gets me quite emotional,” the prince said. “But the key thing is really the impact. We need to translate the sort of effort that we put into the visibility of the prize and particularly the visibility of the solutions.”

He hoped his children were watching but may have to wait until he gets home to find out what they thought of it. No doubt that’s wise, given some of his other comments about the discerning opinions of his children, particularly Princess Charlotte.

After the final question about his new beard, William laughed. Even that, it seems, has been somewhat traumatic.

He said: “Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears the first time I grew one, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second, and I convinced her it was going to be OK.”

After the year William and his family have had, many will hope it will.