In November, Prince William traveled to South Africa for the fourth annual Earthshot Prizes, the award honoring innovative climate solutions he helped to found back in 2020. Hannah Waddingham, the actor who played Rebecca on Ted Lasso, has been a longtime supporter of the initiative, and in 2023, she hosted the third annual ceremony in Singapore. This year, she wasn’t able to travel to Cape Town for the event, so instead, Waddingham invited the prince to join her for cider and a game of darts to recap the trip. They posted their afternoon at Alexandra Palace to the Earthshot Prize’s YouTube channel.
“It was fantastic,” William said. “We reached that peak where it was more like a concert and less like an award ceremony. It just had a really good atmosphere.”
The video was a promotion for The Earthshot Report, a new documentary about the prize’s progress, which aired on Sunday in the UK and will air on Wednesday in the US. When the game of darts began, Waddingham said she was feeling apprehensive about her opponent. “I’m feeling equal joy and terror about playing darts with, you know, the future king of England,” she said, before struggling with her first three attempts. When William was successful, she laughed and said, “I am so furious.”
Over a glass of cider, William explained why his original plan for the climate change prize focused on the work they could do in 10 years. “We like to look at it like a decade of change. The future changes we want need to start happening really quite fast now and so this decade of change is when the Earthshot Prize is running for,” he said. “Right now the focus is highlighting, showcasing, scaling, all the amazing solutions that are out there. Invest in them, see them and support them, and use them. Then we will make the Earth more sustainable and better for us all going forwards.”
During his November trip to South Africa, William wore a pair of biodegradable shoes from the brand Purified, which are made with a plastic-free leather alternative invented by Earthshot winners, NFW. While playing with Waddingham, he mentioned that he was wearing the biodegradable shoes again. He added that the most important work that the prize has done so far has been connecting companies with climate solutions to investors that can help them grow their businesses and scale their solutions to environmental degradation.
“We’ve created something called Launchpad, which is this big dating app which connects innovator with investor,” he said. “By putting the two together we’ve effectively done all the due diligence for them, so these investors can come in and say we know what we’re buying, we know it’s credible, we know it’s going to work, now we’re going to put money in.”
