Prince William 'is looking forward' to role at Cop30 climate change conference in Brazil after revealing he's had 'hardest year in my life' with Kate and King Charles both fighting cancer
Prince William is looking forward to playing a role at the Cop30 UN climate change conference in Brazil next year, a royal source has revealed.
Prince William is looking forward to playing a role at the Cop30 UN climate change conference in Brazil next year, a royal source has revealed.
The Prince of Wales is seeking to spread urgent optimism about the climate crisis when he attends the global conference, which is due to take place in Belem on the Amazon delta, in November 2025.
There is speculation William could also stage his Earthshot Prize in the Brazilian city having spoken previously about taking the environmental awards to every corner of the Earth including China, India and South America.
The future king has already staged the green Oscars in London, Boston and Singapore, and on Wednesday attended the ceremony hosted in Cape Town, the highlight of the princes four-day visit to South Africa.
During his trip to the capital city, William candidly revealed it has been the hardest year in my life following his wife and fathers cancer diagnoses, adding that he was hugely proud of them both for showing such dignity and bravery.
Prince William is pictured at the Earthshot Prize Awards looking suave in a grey chequered suit
The Princess of Wales speaks with members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre in October 2024
Prince William speaks with fellow guests inside the Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony
A royal source said: This week, the Prince of Wales visited South Africa to spotlight African innovation and young people, as Earthshot hosted its fourth annual awards in Cape Town.
Throughout his trip, the prince spoke about the importance of not losing sight of what needs to be done between now and 2030 - the Earthshot decade.
His commitment to restoring the future of the planet is unwavering and the Prince is determined to do all he can to use his platform to spread urgent optimism.
Next year, the Climate Cop will take place in Brazil and its set to be hugely consequential.
The Prince of Wales is looking forward to playing a role there.
Cop30 will be a major gathering of world leaders, NGOs, policymakers, government representatives, activists and investors - all key stakeholders who the prince would probably like to attract to his awards.
Meanwhile, Cop29 is set to take place in a matter of days in Azerbaijan. It was revealed last month that King Charles will miss this years climate summit meeting as he continues his cancer treatment.
As Prince of Wales, Charles delivered the opening speech at Cop21 in Paris in 2015, calling for a vast military-style campaign to fight climate change and urging world leaders to commit trillions, not billions, of dollars.
He played a vital role in convening and encouraging world leaders to sign up to the landmark Paris Climate Agreement at the event.
Charles also delivered a speech on home soil at the opening ceremony of Cop26 in Glasgow, calling on world leaders to adopt a warlike footing to deal with the issue.
Hannah Jones, CEO of the Earthshot Prize, wearing a custom-made red velvet jacket and tulle skirt by Notting Hill designer Aimee Joyce, made from dead stock material which would otherwise have been discarded (pictured with William)
The son of the late Steve Irwin, Robert Irwin, an Australian conservationist, also looked in high spirits as he stepped out in a crisp tuxedo at the Earthshot Prize awards
Prince William posed next to Robert Irwin and Nomzamo Mbatha on the green carpet
Prince William poses with the winners of the Earthshot Prize during the awards ceremony in Cape Town
Elsewhere, during a remarkably candid interview on Thursday, marking at end of his official visit to South Africa, the future king opened up about having the hardest year in my life following his wife and fathers cancer diagnoses.
William offered an deeply moving response after being asked how the past year had been for him as a husband, father and son,
Slightly sighing and lowering his voice, he said: Honestly? Its been dreadful. Its 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 Im so proud of my wife, Im proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done.
But from a personal family point of view, its been, yeah, its been brutal.
Asked how is the princess is getting on, he smiled and said: Shes doing well. Doing well.
William added of his relaxed demeanour in Cape Town this week: Its interesting you say that, because I couldnt be less relaxed this year, so its very interesting youre all seeing that.
Earlier this week he praised Kate, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February and underwent a course of preventative chemotherapy, as having been amazing this whole year.
She recently revealed that she has finished her chemotherapy treatment.
His father, King Charles, was diagnosed with cancer following routine prostate surgery in January - although the two are not said to be connected - and is still undergoing weekly treatment but has pleased doctors with his progress.
Prince William, wearing a Hackett polo shirt, and the Princess of Wales, wearing a Roman blue dress, appeared together in a video released by Kensington Palace in September
The Prince said his year has been dreadful adding: Its probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult. (Pictured L-R: Prince Louis, Prince William, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte and Prince George)
William, 42, made clear that he intends to continue to plough a different furrow when it comes to his royal role and duties than that of this father and grandmother, for the time being at least.
He admitted that he doesnt necessarily like the extra responsibility that comes with his still relatively new role as Prince of Wales, but admits that it has given him the time and freedom to build huge global initiatives such as the Earthshot Prize and the chance to afford meaningful change.
You mention the added responsibility and the freedom in the same sentence, he laughed.
Its a tricky one. Do I like more responsibility? No.
Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot then yes.
And thats the future for me. Its very important with my role and my platform, that Im doing something for good. That Im helping peoples lives and Im doing something that is genuinely meaningful.
William was speaking at a seaweed innovator showcase where he picked up a pair of earrings made from beach cast kelp to take home for his wife.
He sported a a blue blazer that he had sourced from a local vintage store in London as part of his effort to wear as many recycled or sustainable items of clothing as possible during the week.
He says what many people dont realise - or even want to realise - is how much work it takes behind the scenes to bring such a massive global initiative together outside of the day-to-day public engagements he is seen on.
Williams father King Charles (pictured with Queen Camilla in Samoa in October) was diagnosed with cancer following routine prostate surgery in January - although the two are not said to be connected
So, the Earthshot is a culmination if you like of all that put together. But it takes a lot of work, and theres 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 said.
The princes green Oscars were born out of his frustration at the global pessimism around climate change and the environmental crisis.
He decided the best way to combat this was to help develop the most inspirational solutions to the biggest problems facing mankind.
Every year for a decade five winners will each receive a £1 million in prize money and mentoring to scale up their ideas.
This years entrants have included everything from a firm making trainers from biodegradable material to a new technology capturing waste heat and turning it into electricity.
William admitted he can get frustrated at the slowness of getting people on board but feels that at last, four years in, hes finally seeing results.
Id like it to be more a team sport, he said.
And so, when you go and approach people...business...or even government...and say, listen, were building this incredible thing. Please come on board. Some people are extremely fast and keen to it. Others take a little bit longer and its those people who take a little bit longer, Im like, guys, we just dont 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 thats the nature of a global environment prize you do, you start from scratch and its going to take a bit of time.
But added that he was really pleased with the progress they had made so far and was really thrilled with Wednesdays live-streamed awards ceremony.
According to Prince William, from a personal family point of view, its been brutal
For the first time they have taken place in Africa, a continent with which he has a special bond having retreated there following the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and later proposed to his wife.
William admitted he felt emotional about it, saying he felt particularly affected hearing the Disney Lion King anthem Circle of Life being sung by an African choir to open the ceremony.
Hearing the Circle of Life. I dont know about everyone else, but hearing the Lion King and things like that gets me quite emotional, he admitted.
So, when they started singing and I saw the clips from the top of Table Mountain and we were all there and its happened. I did feel quite emotional.
He said he wanted to translate the impact of such an amazing ceremony into raising the visibility of the solutions that it is showcasing.
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, he said.
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.
And the prince said companies - and countries - all needed to do more.
The Prince (pictured) has been in South Africa over the last week, for his annual Earthshot Awards
He said: I definitely think so. Were giving this amazing platform to all of them. And really its an amazing platform for business to come in and poach what they want.
But if we keep waiting....were going to keep eating into time that we just dont have.
And so my message to business really is: hurry up and be courageous. Invest faster because we just dont have that time.
The prince said he wasnt sure yet whether his children had been able to watch the ceremony on YouTube as he hadnt clocked in with them yet but said he hoped they did.
He will be reunited with them at home on Friday before being back on duty this weekend alongside his family at a number of Remembrance events.
