Prince William begins a visit to South Africa that focuses on climate and the environment

Prince William will meet with young environmentalists and local fishermen during a visit to South Africa that starts on Monday and will focus on climate change and conservation. He will also see his annual Earthshot Prize award US$1.2 million in grants to five organizations for innovative environmental ideas.

The 42-year-old heir to the throne will also attend a global wildlife summit and spend time at a sea rescue institute during four days of events in Cape Town, with the centerpiece of his trip the Earthshot awards ceremony on Wednesday night.

He will use the visit to highlight other issues close to his heart, such as the work of rangers on the front line of conservation efforts, officials said.

The visit comes as the finances of William and his father, King Charles III, come under scrutiny following an investigation by The Sunday Times newspaper and Britain’s Channel 4 television. The probe found their private estates made millions of pounds by renting properties to government entities, including the armed forces, the National Health Service and public schools.

The two estates, the king’s Duchy of Lancaster and the prince’s Duchy of Cornwall, hold portfolios of commercial, residential and agricultural properties that provide personal income to the royals.

The Duchy of Lancaster responded by saying that while the king takes an interest in the estate, day-to-day operations are overseen by an independent council and executives. The Duchy of Cornwall said the estate operates with a commercial imperative “alongside our commitment to restoring the natural environment and generating positive social impact for our communities.”

William, the Prince of Wales, last visited Africa in 2018, but he has a strong connection to the continent. William travelled to Africa as a boy after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997. He and his wife, Kate, got engaged at a wildlife conservancy in Kenya in 2010. And he said he came up with the idea for the Earthshot awards while in Namibia in 2018.

“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,” William said in a statement ahead of his visit.

Kate, Princess of Wales, and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are not travelling to South Africa. Kate, 42, only recently returned to some public duties after completing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.

William’s visit comes soon after his brother Harry, the Duke of Sussex, visited South Africa and neighbouring Lesotho last month for a youth charity he set up in southern Africa with a member of Lesotho’s royal family.

William formed the Earthshot Prize through his Royal Foundation in 2020 to encourage new ideas to solve environmental problems; it launched in 2021. The first three awards ceremonies were held in Britain, the United States and Singapore.

William said he wanted this year’s awards to inspire young people involved in climate action across Africa, a continent of some 1.5 billion people that contributes the least to global warming but is especially vulnerable to climatic shocks.

The wider southern African region is currently experiencing its worst drought and hunger crisis in decades, with 27 million people severely affected, according to the United Nations.

The Earthshot prizes are awarded in five categories: protecting and restoring nature, clean air, reviving oceans, building a waste-free world, and fixing the climate. This year’s finalists include a company in Kenya that develops solar-powered systems for homes, a group in Ecuador that brings Indigenous communities together to protect forests, and a conservation project in Kazakhstan that is saving the critically endangered Saiga antelope from extinction.

The awards ceremony will be held in a temporary, reusable dome that has been erected on a field next to a sports stadium in Cape Town. The 470-foot-long dome has hosted other events in South Africa and will be dismantled to be used again after the Earthshot prizes, organizers said.

While climate change and threats to the environment are at the center of William’s visit, he will briefly break away from those topics to go to a high school in an underprivileged Cape Town neighbourhood, where he’s expected to join kids at a rugby practice.

Rugby is one of South Africa’s most popular sports and the country’s national team, the Springboks, are the reigning world champions. William is also a rugby follower.

“I can promise that you will see the Prince of Wales playing some rugby,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said of the planned school visit.

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Associated Press writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.