Prince William to make solo trip to US days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tour Britain

Prince William to make solo trip to US days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tour Britain
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Tom Evans

By Tom Evans


Published: 19/08/2022

- 10:00

Updated: 19/08/2022

- 10:04

The Duke of Cambridge is to travel to New York next month to attend an Earthshot Prize innovation summit

William will make the solo trip to the Big Apple on September 21, where he will be joined by previous winners of his £50million global environmental competition.

The second Earthshot Prize awards ceremony is set to be held in Boston in December, after the inaugural event at London’s Alexandra Palace last year.


His New York visit will come just days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tour Britain and Europe on charitable endeavours in early September.

William, who has a long-running rift with younger brother, is unlikely to make the journey from the East Coast to the West Coast to see his sibling next month.

Like wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, the second-in-line to the throne is also not expected to meet Harry and Meghan Markle when they visit the UK.

It is the first time William has visited the US since Harry and Meghan crossed the Atlantic to California after quitting the working monarchy.

The Earthshot team will be co-hosting the summit, which takes place during NYC Climate Week and the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, with Bloomberg Philanthropy.

William will deliver a speech, and the conference will be attended by last year’s winners and finalists, The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance network, heads of state, global business leaders and philanthropists.

The summit aims to amplify The Earthshot Prize’s call to speed up efforts to repair the planet.

Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, who is the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, said: “Accelerating the world’s climate progress requires us to take urgent, ambitious action from every angle.

“As global leaders get set to gather in New York, the Bloomberg team is working with our partners Prince William and The Earthshot Prize to showcase the most innovative climate solutions and help them spread more quickly.”

Hannah Jones, chief executive of Earthshot, said. “Through a powerful discussion on collective action and investment in game changing innovations, we will ask the brightest minds to turn urgent optimism into action.”

Harry Potter star Emma Watson, wearing a gown made of 10 wedding dresses from Oxfam, and Dame Emma Thompson were among those who walked the “green carpet” at the first awards ceremony in October 2021.

The competition aims to discover and scale up ground-breaking solutions to repair the planet and £1million in prize money was presented to the winners in five categories or Earthshots – Protect And Restore Nature; Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans; Build A Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.

Among the winners were projects restoring coral reefs, redistributing unwanted food to the disadvantaged and a project battling the issues contributing to air pollution in India.

The initiative was inspired by former US president John F Kennedy’s Moonshot project which set scientists the challenge of placing an astronaut on the moon and returning him safely – and in the process helped advance mankind’s achievements.

The John F Kennedy Library Foundation, alongside the City of Boston and its mayor Michelle Wu, will be host partners of the Earthshot Prize ceremony.

The Earthshot Prize was founded by William and his Royal Foundation in 2020, and in July this year the project became an independent charity, with the duke now its president.

William last visited the US in 2014 when he travelled to New York with the Duchess of Cambridge, who was pregnant with Princess Charlotte, for a three-day tour.

EMBARGOED TO 1000 FRIDAY AUGUST 19 File photo dated 17/10/21 of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving for the first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London. The Duke of Cambridge is to travel to New York next month to attend an Earthshot Prize innovation summit as a countdown to the awards being staged in the US. William will make the solo trip to the Big Apple on September 21. Issue date: Friday August 19, 2022.
Kate and William arriving for the first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in London
Alberto Pezzali

EMBARGOED TO 1000 FRIDAY AUGUST 19 File photo dated 26/03/22 of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Coral Vita in Grand Bahama, which was the inaugural winner of the 'Revive Our Oceans' Earthshot Prize. The Duke of Cambridge is to travel to New York next month to attend an Earthshot Prize innovation summit as a countdown to the awards being staged in the US. William will make the solo trip to the Big Apple on September 21. Issue date: Friday August 19, 2022.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Coral Vita in Grand Bahama
Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror

EMBARGOED TO 1000 FRIDAY AUGUST 19 File photo dated 17/10/21 of a general view of the first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London. The Duke of Cambridge is to travel to New York next month to attend an Earthshot Prize innovation summit as a countdown to the awards being staged in the US. William will make the solo trip to the Big Apple on September 21. Issue date: Friday August 19, 2022.
The first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London
Yui Mok

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
BRENDAN MCDERMID

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