Apparently, we’re still talking about Prince William’s TED Talk from last year?

Royals Xmas Day church

This is confusing! Prince William did a big TED Talk last year about his keen Earthshot Prize. He appeared virtually, so it’s basically just a seven-minute video with William saying words about the environment and how he’s very keen to do something environmental. The winners of the Earthshot Prize will be announced in October, and so Earthshot is doing a “countdown” which includes a video from William’s TED Talk where he’s talking about John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot mission.

Prince William shared the innovative inspiration behind his own Earthshot initiative: President John F. Kennedy. Since the prince was a boy, the iconic American president has been a subject of fascination thanks to Kennedy’s historically bold Moonshot mission to send a man to space in record time.

“Humans have an extraordinary capacity to set goals and strive to achieve them,” William shared in a TED Talk released Monday as part of a countdown to his Earthshot Prize ceremony in October. “I’ve long been inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 mission to put a man on the moon within a decade. He named it the Moonshot. It seemed crazy. We’d only just launched the first satellite. Putting a man on the moon that quickly seemed impossible,” said William, 39.

But Kennedy inspired people “to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. In taking that giant leap for mankind, the team behind the Moonshot united millions of people around the world — that this crazy ambition wasn’t so crazy after all.”

According to the Duke of Cambridge, this kind of ambition continues to be critical as we “start this new decade knowing that it is the most consequential period in history. If we do not act in this decade, the damage that we have done will be irreversible. And the effects felt not just by future generations but by all of us alive today. And what’s more, this damage will not be felt equally by everyone. It is the most vulnerable, those with the fewest resources and those who’ve done the least to cause climate change who will be impacted the most.”

And so the prince is hoping to do his part by spearheading Earthshot, which seeks to find new solutions to the issues facing the planet. According to William’s TED Talk today, through “a set of ambitious objectives for the planet, the Earthshot goals seek to protect and restore nature, clean the air, revive oceans, build a waste-free world and fix the climate — all in the next decade.”

On October 17, recipients of the first-ever Earthshot prize will each receive about $1.4 million (£1 million) at a ceremony attended by William at London’s Alexandra Palace.

[From People]

The video below was obviously recorded last year and they just re-released it for some reason yesterday. Yesterday afternoon. A few hours after the Windsors learned about Prince Harry’s memoir. Coincidence? Or is this just William wanting credit several times over for something he did last year? Anyway… William is no John F. Kennedy. The only thing they have in common is that they were both serial philanderers. Can’t wait for Kate to cosplay Jackie Kennedy though. Do you think Kate will even be invited to the Earthshot ceremony?

Photos courtesy of TED Talk screencaps.

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41 Responses to “Apparently, we’re still talking about Prince William’s TED Talk from last year?”

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  1. Pamspam says:

    Are we, though?

    • Elizabeth Regina says:

      I suppose they have no choice but to ‘repurpose’ old content for someone so lazy and lacking in charisma.

  2. Lori says:

    Welp, William should worry if Kate shows up to an event with him in a pink suit and pill box hat. Thats about the only way he’d be like JFK.

  3. fluffy_bunny says:

    That’s a beautiful header photo of William molesting a tree.

  4. Amelia says:

    What Ted Talk?

  5. Sofia says:

    Oh I completely forgot he did one.

  6. Kalana says:

    A ceremony “attended” by William. This is supposed to be his legacy and he’s still tepid about it. Did Harry just “attend” the Invictus Games?

    Have any of the palaces been made more environmentally friendly?

    • equality says:

      They have a whole section on the royal.uk website about their environmental initiatives. I’m sure they are all down to Charles and nothing to do with Will or he would have made sure that was known during his documentary.

      • aftershocks says:

        Exactly, Celebitches! The ‘incandescent with rage other brother,’ is fast and furious with his clueless, lazy, wannabe clout-chasing. Willileaks needs to stop trying to piggyback on his father’s passions, especially after claiming he ain’t interested in The Prince’s Trust cuz he wannabe his ‘own man.’ LOL

        You not fooling no one Cain! You best get off your lazy, ‘bored,’ rosebush a$$ and solve the systemic racism in your snobby, entitled royal family, and in your own mind first. Until then, call off the ‘carnival clowns,’ stop hating on what your brother has that you’ll NEVER have, and try to do some actual, real work on your own steam, without trading off on and/ or stealing the ideas and hard-earned gains of others.

        Meanwhile, FYI, as U.S. vp candidate Lloyd Bentsen famously once said to U.S. vp candidate Dan Quayle, “You’re no JFK!” GTFOH

  7. Digital Unicorn says:

    OMG that first image of him touching that tree – is he thinking of his Rose Bush?

  8. ABritGuest says:

    I thought the palace hated Americans & JFK was a Democrat- how dare he cite an American ‘leftie’ as an inspiration! Wasn’t there a Brit he could cite- what about one closer to home?

    • Jane says:

      Also space travel is incredibly unsustainable and polluting, so a slightly odd inspiration for a climate change initiative.

    • Layla says:

      It’s to match Keen Kate’s video presentation for her “small changes big things” or whatever the hell it’s called.

  9. Over it says:

    William who?

  10. Snuffles says:

    Is there ANY information on this Earthshot prize? I used to work for a government agency that did something similar and I was there from the inception to the awards and the whole process took 2 years. And it was a LOT of work.

  11. equality says:

    With all the anti-American sentiment around the Meghan articles, it greatly offends me that he goes on about an American accomplishment as if the UK has a share in it. “We” had only just launched satellites? No, the Soviets, the US and France had launched satellites prior to the moonlanding. The UK didn’t launch until 1971.
    I follow a lot of environmental news and have seen nothing about Will’s ted talk or even about his “greatest ever” prize. I hope that it’s awarded for people actually doing things and not just coming up with plans. There are already plenty of plans that could be implemented. People just need encouragement to do so.

  12. Plain Jane says:

    Adding my vote to Best Header Photo Evah for an article! I don’t even know where you can find such a beautiful image! As for the content of William re-releasing a video of a video of a talk about … blah blah blah … Did you know Harry wrote a book????

  13. nina says:

    Here’s a thought. How about cutting back on your helicopter rides. Oh, that’s right only the peasants are required to make sacrifices. GTFOH.

    Does anyone believe his crap that he was long inspired by JFK. Who is he trying to fool, the douchebag.

    And what’s with the touching the tree. Ack, even nature is not safe from being co opted into his crap. I bet that tree wished it would rain after that touching.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ nina, that was my first thought. And what about the massive homes, the remodeling and the need to live in 3 massive properties with tennis courts, pools and unnecessary travels via trains and helicopters. Hmmmh….what’s that TOB, you deserve them since you are the FFK? No one cares unless you stop being a hypocrite, you f-Yanker!

  14. NeedCoffee says:

    Random fact: Alexandra Palace was used an internment centre for (civilian) German nationals living in the UK during WW1. My great-grandfather was held there.

    It has a great park, a lake, an ice rink, and they do boxing, darts, and snooker events up there too.

    • Keen Kate says:

      I don’t care for William, but Kate could never memorise and say a speech like that without mumbling and multiple mistakes.

    • Courtney B says:

      It wasn’t ever a royal palace, just an event center. It was built in 1873 and supposed to be an entertainment center counterpart to the Crystal palace. It was named for Queen Alexandra though when she was Princess of Wales.

  15. Amy Bee says:

    Moonshot was really about the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. And what is William doing touting a US President? I thought royals are supposed to be apolitical.

  16. teecee says:

    It’s so funny how William and Kate exploit American accomplishments and imagery while simultaneously hating Americans. Will with this Kennedy and moonshot stuff, Kate using images of MLK Jr in her Hold Still promo.

    It’s also interesting that I can’t think of an English accomplishment or person that would be used in the same way by Americans. Maybe Harry Potter? Or Shakespeare if it’s something specifically literary or theatre-related. But one is a fictional character and the other has been dead for centuries. I guess older Republicans still like Winston Churchill, though I doubt most of them could identify him in a photograph.

    Mandela, Gandhi, Greta Thunberg, Malala – there are non-American activists and leaders that have reached icon status within the US, so it’s not impossible. Kinda feels like this deterioration of the royals is indicative of a longstanding rot within the whole English ruling class.

    • Jane's Wasted Talent says:

      Churchill was my first thought too, and interestingly, between him and Princess Diana, the Spencers really dominated the 20th century, as far as iconic Brits are concerned. And let’s see, the Beatles, Pistols, Bowie, Stones, Zeppelin, Agatha Christie, Bertie Wooster, Monty Python, tons of punk and post-punk, Hitchcock, James Bond… hmm, yes. Very few of these are from the upper classes, and two of those are fictional. I’ll subscribe to your theory.

    • aftershocks says:

      Can’t and Won’t have been cluelessly advised by incompetent grey men and two-faced palace p.r. to try and horn-in on the U.S. market. They busy flutzing around big-time, but it will end in a big-time FAIL. Just like what we are seeing from K.Nicholl, V.Arbiter, E.Andrews, and the rest of the scurrilous rota ratchets.

  17. Lizzie says:

    Blame Harry for being a superstar all you want, TOB has no genuine interest in any subject and that’s how he comes across and why no one has ant interest in him.

  18. MBush504 says:

    You had me at, “The only thing they have in common is being serial philanderers.” I died!

  19. Beech says:

    How does Wm know about JFK?! I was 12 when he was assassinated in 1963. That’s about *starts counting fingers* yeah, a lotta years ago. I was 18 when Americans landed on the moon in 1969 during Richard Nixon’s administration, a GOP administration. Gramps Phillip must have told him about JFK. The Kennedys visited Buckingham Palace.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Beech, I was 8 when JFK died and 14 when we landed on the moon. Where in the devil did this stuff come from about JFK. I think we got energized to get to the moon because we were afraid that the Russians would get there before us. Lyndon B Johnson was President from ’63 until Nixon was elected and was sworn in January 1969. So, it was a democrat–but not JFK. That’s all on Johnson–’cause if he hadn’t wanted to get to the moon, I doubt there would have been the funding.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Wait! I get it. The Kennedys have been referred to as American Royalty. That’s been a while, though. Is that why he went to the Kennedys???? What a stretch.

  20. Christine says:

    I really wanted to absorb this content, but I have died from the photo of Wills.