Yesterday was supposed to be Prince William’s big day. During the day, he did a photocall at the Christ the Redeemer statue, homage-ing his mother’s similar photo-op, and then in the evening, William had his Earthshot Prize ceremony. Guess who else was out and about yesterday? King Charles, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex. All four got more attention from the British press in that 24-hour period. You know that bald demon was raging behind the scenes.
Anyway, I’m including some photos from William’s activities on Wednesday. Weirdly, it felt like they didn’t really do a “red carpet” at the actual Earthshot ceremony. I’m judging all of this solely by the photos, but the ceremonies always feel so sparsely attended and half-assed. There was some kind of “receiving line” for Scooter King, and he did spend a brief amount of time with the environmentalists he was supposedly highlighting. But yeah, most of the photos are William with Jason Knauf, and William chatting up celebrities like Shawn Mendes and Kylie Minogue. You know who didn’t show up? Gisele Bundchen.
They got Keir Starmer to attend this stupid bullsh-t too, although Starmer was probably in Brazil for the COP30 conference in Belem. Starmer and William will put their appearances in at COP30 and be back in England in time for the Remembrance events this weekend, I’m assuming. While I absolutely enjoy the “why did faux environmentalist William fly 5,000 miles to talk about climate change” commentary, keep in mind that many of these people were going to attend COP30 anyway. That’s why William is desperately trying to attach his half-assed vanity project to COP30. But yes, William is very wasteful. He uses royal helicopters the way most people use cars or taxis.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty.
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- The Prince of Wales during a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, where he met with the fifteen finalists for 2025 Earthshot Prize on day three of his trip to Brazil for the annual Earthshot Prize Awards. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When: 05 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, where he met with the fifteen finalists for 2025 Earthshot Prize on day three of his trip to Brazil for the annual Earthshot Prize Awards. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When: 05 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales arrives for the Earthshot Prize Summit in Pier Maua, on day three of his visit to Brazil. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When: 05 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales arrives for the Earthshot Prize Summit in Pier Maua, on day three of his visit to Brazil. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When: 05 Nov 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
He looks creepy and weird in the photos. There’s a low energy quality to this event too. It’s almost sad but then I remember what a jerk he is, and more importantly what a hypocrite he is on tackling the climate crisis.
I think he look like a fan boy in photos when there are celebrities around, and it is a little creepy.
That smarmy smirk in the photo of him standing between Anitta and Kylie Minogue is so gross. Such a footie yobbo.
Knauf always manages to look smarmy, too. And slimy. Like he needs a shower.
And what’s with the velvet jackets?? It’s so 1950s.
He’s such a weird creep. Those pictures, my god
This .
OMG! He can’t seem to take a decent picture. He has no inner warmth, no charisma, no…anything.
William just looks like what he is a stupid, entitled, dumb man. Traveling with this nonsense in the hopes some country will request to host this is delusional. As mentioned yesterday, it would make more sense environmentally to host this mess in his own country annually. This Earth slop event is not taken seriously because many see it for what it is, a vanity project.
I couldn’t even begin to name just *one* project tied to this shit-show, let alone a winner from this year or *any* year past. It really is just an excuse for another vacation, and to sniff around celebs hoping some of the shine will rub off on him. Is there a single celeb that is actually *really* popular, that someone will be dying to see in a pic, or are they all just a bit (or more!) past their prime arc?
Nice to notice Willie got to bring his usual “plus one” along for the trip.
To be fair, I don’t think most people would be able to name any environmental project/initiative at all, never mind one that’s received an Earthshot Prize. It’s just not a glamorous business and if William wasn’t the next in line for the throne, he’d get no press at all.
That’s the problem I have with this thing too: the initiatives and the people attached to them are rarely even mentioned! All we see and hear are Willnot (with his hands covering his crotch) flying all over the world and then, either showing him having fun amongst some B-list celebs or sightseeing in exotic places! This is all a PR exercise for him personally with little to no positive impact on the environment. Just another vacation for him!
I finally found one picture of William with this years winners.
Does he ever highlight who these people are and what they are doing to improve the environment?
Maybe there are people who would like to invest in some.of these projects.
A sad truth about a lot of these high profile social initiatives. But we are all guilty of it.
During the recent Invictus Games last winter, Celebitchy posted numerous articles about what events Prince Harry attended, which musicians performed, what outfits Meghan wore…but I don’t recall any
competing athletes or winning medalists getting their names mentioned on this site.
I would disagree to a point because this isn’t exactly mainstream media and Celebitchy’s reporting regarding Harry and Meghan tends to be based on what UK and royalist media report on them so the real focus here doesn’t lean towards the competitors as much as it could. But even though there is more focus on Harry, Meghan or other celebrities there has still been focus on certain competitors and teams here. So it’s unfair to make that comparison based on what you see here because that isn’t what this sight is entirely for. There is a reason so many of us know certain competitors from IG and that’s because there has been focus on some of them for various reasons. We know about Taira from Ukraine because they were written about by more reputable media. We also know about Peacemaker from Nigeria because of the focus on competitors. We had the IG movie The Heart of Invictus where we met and learned about numerous competitors, including Gabe. So there is focus on the competitors (here and other places) because it isn’t just a vanity project for Harry and people are genuinely interested in knowing about these competitors and their experiences.
Well of course it’s all about Peg it’s not about those who won and are actually doing something for the earths climate. Interesting that Gisele didn’t show up. She does have a new baby but I wonder what caused the no show? Love that Chuckles and Harry and Meg got more press than him lol. I’m sure his bestie Jason did his very best to comfort him lol.
Giselle is one of the judges, I believe, as is Jose Andres. I don’t think they generally show up for the presentation. I wonder why there seems to be only celebrities on the panel. Wouldn’t it make sense to have actual environmental scientists judge rather than celebrity activists? I think William took a picture of all the finalists at Christ the Redeemer stature, and another picture of the winners. Perhaps they walk the GREEN carpet too, but just are never shown by the media because no one would recognize them? Who knows. I think scheduling the prizes in the same country and same time as COP conference is a good PR move. Perhaps he could arrange for the winners to attend some sessions, but I doubt it. It’s a chance for William to give a speech, although no reason why he can’t do both. It seems neither he nor his staff can walk and chew gum at the same time, though.
Actually, there are 14 members of the voting council and 9 of them are not celebrities (as in well-known). But, even those who are well-known are doing work of some kind for the environment. And the prizes are not just for science projects, but also for ways in which environmental improvements can help communities. The concept isn’t a bad one – it’s just that William has to make it into a world-changing magnum opus in order to feed his ego.
yeah, I dont hate the concept of Earthshot. I just think William…uhh…overshot…by trying to make this into a traveling Oscars or something.
and again as we’ve discussed on here recently – William just always centers himself in these things. Its always about him.
Can anyone remind me, where we given an explanation for why Jason is glued to Fk’s side instead of Kate? Were we told it was because she is supervising the move to FL or no explanation at all? I am trying to establish whether it is now a given, without any need of further explanation, that FQ no longer travels abroad for work purposes? I am also intrigued by FK’s 2024 request to dad to just okay 10 events per year? Does this indicate Will’s model of work will be reduced to 10 monthly royal engagements plus annual Autumn Eathshot foreign beano ( he takes 2 months for Summer holidays hence 10 ,not 12 monthly?)
Knauf is the CEO of Earshot so that’s why he’s there. I think he helped create this project for William. And yeah, Kate’s apparently supervising the move that is just down the street, or sorry down the park.
Reminder, Earsh*t is a private project run by a private organisation, run from a state property (KP), (and privately funded by American billionaires (Bloomberg and Besos), disguised in a charitable structure), one to make money off. Willy himself said – it is not philanthropy.
And it has nothing to do with Willy being the Prince of Wales, or anything related to the government sending him abroad for goodwill, or so.
But state/MET security and traveling costs are all paid for by the British taxpayers, because the Prince of Wales is traveling abroad and needs security and transportation.
Make this make sense.
Don’t we smell Andrew’s “Pitch at Palace” 2.0 here?
Yuck! Is slimy, lank, greasy hair a thing now. Jason looks like he is drowning in hair oil. So incredibly gross.
I just said the same thing about Jason upthread! How/why does he *always* manage to look literally slimy?? It’s so gross.
Well, if nothing else, he had a nice trip with his friend. 🙃
His special friend!
(Not that there’s anything wrong with that … and I actually would have more respect for William if he was honest about his relationship with Kate.)
with Kate and Jason
It’s so sad that he’s in charge of this, because it’s only a vanity project to him. Earth shot isn’t a bad idea, but he isn’t interested in the actual purported mission so it has no real impact. This is halfway through his 10-year goal for this endeavor, were there any retrospectives about the past winners over the last 5 years? Any follow-ups on how they’ve been able to achieve their goals due to the prize money? Any announcements of long-standing partnerships that’s going to have a long-term impact for any of the previous prize winners? What are the names of this year’s prize winners?
It’s just really sad how he’s taking something that could really be a force for good, and it’s only using it in his continuing one-sided competition. And honestly I thought I the other people involved. Even if he doesn’t care, you could care and make sure that you get the names of the people who are winning these prizes out there and get them continued financial and structural support.
They’ve managed to make somewhat plausible excuses for Kate’s absences, but the constant presence of Jason is fucking WEIRD. Can we say that? Why does he need to be there?
Scooter does not want her there mansion or no mansion she could let her parents take care of the kids
@Miranda: Jason Knauf is the CEO of Earthshot now. That’s why he was there in Brazil.
On Saturday I asked for a box for some food we couldn’t finish in a restaurant and it had ‘Earthshot winner’ stamped on it next to some info about it (I think) being made from seaweed and being super sustainable.
That’s my issue with all of this, the winners and finalists seem to legit be doing great things so why can’t this man step a bit to the side and let them ALSO get some attention. Everyone would benefit and I’m confident the whole thing would have a higher profile.
That’s cool. To be fair, every now and then William does an event checking up on past ES winners. It just doesn’t get much press. That said, there could be more side-stepping or just focus on the winners. And maybe doing more than just a handful of check-ins throughout the year. Is that a picture of the winners all holding a circle globe thing as a trophy?
That would require William traveling more. The only winners I can remember him visiting are based in the UK
William only started to “check up on past ES winners” in earnest after the big scandal in which he flew celebrities to the Earthflop event in Boston but didn’t bother to invite the actual finalists and winner(s) – they had to “join” remotely.
He would not be doing any check-ins at all had he not been roundly mocked for that, including flying David Beckham from across the world. He seems bored to tears with his own event, and Knauf seems to be in it for (a) control over the heir and (b) avenues to more money. Someone wrote here some time ago that Willam’s (Bloomberg’s) Earthshot is Andrew’s Pitch at Palace, just under a different name, and based at Kensington Palace instead of Buckingham Palace. That’s probably where those dweebs got the idea in the first place. Grifters. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
He’s been inviting the winners for the past few years, ever since the Boston scandal, which is good, but it’s hard to trust people when the instinct for one of their first big award nights was to just not invite the winners. Like what? It’s good they are now though.
It would be an easy choice, if this drip needs to travel, to visit locations where these projects, or similar ones, are taking place – on a regular basis, to highlight what’s being accomplished. There was an ES affiliated seaweed project, in Scotland or Wales? that he and Kate stopped by, possibly in 2023 (believe it was part of their performance to mark TQ’s death the previous year), and he visited the billion oyster project in NYC. That’s about it as far as I can recall. There’s now 75 finalists and 25 winners. If he did this enough, on a regular basis, maybe he’d also earn the visibility, and credibility he so desperately wants. He might even find it’s something that really interests him. The current iteration of the ES website is actually quite good, really highlighting the projects from the winners and finalists. A once a year banquet whose PR only celebrates the celebrities attending isn’t going to encourage people to check out the site, which is the only place to find information about what this project is trying to accomplish.
He’d also do himself a big favor and look more impressive immediately if he’d ditch the fig leaf pose. Learn to be comfortable with his hands by his side. When he’s got a dark suit on, your eyes are immediately drawn to the big hands covering his crotch. He’s got a lighter suit jacket on in his picture on the website, but the usual pose doesn’t look any better.
The Billion Oyster Project was started in 2014 by Murray Fisher and Pete Malinowski. AFAICT there’s none of Willy’s donors’ money being routed through Earthspit to support NY harbor. Willy only visited it in 2023 as part of his, ‘Look at me pretending to address the UN’ and ‘Look at me running in Central Park,’ glow-up campaign.
Or put his hands in the back like Phil did. More dignified.
@kirk, all true! I didn’t mean to imply ES had any part in the Billion Oyster project. Just that the visit is a second example of something he’s done in the past that could be expanded if he really wanted to try and earn respect in the environmental space. According to the ES website, thousands of potential projects have been reviewed over the years to arrive at the finalists and winners. If he can drop in on the oyster project, I’m sure there’s worthwhile (non-ES) endeavors in South America he can highlight. Visit some of those instead of playing beach volleyball, if the absolutely has to stage the gala overseas. Once or twice a year, pick a part of the globe and do local site visits. He’s still the future king, if he got serious and put some effort in, he could garner some attention. The lack of interest isn’t just because Will has less charisma and people skills than Harry – it’s because unlike Harry, Will clearly doesn’t care, so why should anyone else?
Probably all a moot point anyway. ES is only supposed to last five more years, and by that time, Will will likely be the monarch, and care even less about the whole thing.
Imagine to pressure the PrimeMinister to attend your glitzy gala – and still loose the headlines to a much hated biracial American actress. Devastating!
Did they actually bother to invite the nominees this time?
William has done nothing to highlight ANY of these people’s initiatives, and it’s been 4 years. He should’ve modeled this after the Endeavor Fund Awards Harry created (and now combined with Invictus). A small award show with a pap walk with Kate into the event. The show they are putting on costs more than the prize they are giving away. It’s ridiculous. Nothing about Earthshot needs this much fanfare. Its hard to take seriously.
The general idea of this program isn’t bad, there’s lots of small ways we can be more sustainable and efficient. I like supporting companies that are finding ways to do this as well. The problem is that it’s been made into a glossy vanity project to feed the ego of one very mediocre man. If they need to have an award ceremony that’s fine but making it into this week long travelling road show doesn’t make any sense. Paying celebrities to travel to another continent all for photo ops that no one is paying attention to.
“The general idea of this program” is that it’s a copy of the Goldman Prize, except it’s been turned into a multiple celebrity road show, which travels to different locations each year – apparently to show off the global statesman, Willy. After initially receiving criticism for flying in celebrities, but making the prize winners attend by Zoom, they did hold one networking type event in UK. Willy has done a pretty good job hitting up billionaires like Bloomberg, Bezos, Jack Ma, etc. to fund the prize and provide support.
How much money is Willnot contributing to the prize? My guess, little to nothing, except lots of greenhouse gases!
He’s so cringe and awkward. It’s hilarious that he feels the need to protect the family jewels from Jesus himself. (Picture in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue). I have nothing else. This was a waste of time for everyone but the winners and I hope they are successful with the crumbs this … thing … gives them.
Ah! The famous “family jewels” pose!
That’s the way he stands in every single official photo. Compare that constipated posture to his brother’s naturally relaxed stance!
Someone please stop buying William those velvet jackets! Holy sh*t! Did he wear his matching velvet shoes too? The whole thing is giving Christmas party.
Yeah, it reminds me of something Don Draper would wear to his company’s holiday party.
In the one picture in front of the famous statue, I felt like that could have been a moment to wear more casual clothes rather than the suit. It felt really formal.
A double breasted suit is a really weird choice for anytime, imo. Much less in Brazil?
It was just weird. What he wore playing volleyball would have worked better here. I didn’t even look close enough to see that it was double-breasted but yeah an odd choice for that moment.
The BBC had a serious article, named the winners and gave a brief summary of their work. That’s really the most he can expect. Think of all those who work for the environment and get no recognition at all.
Do royals not wear lotion? He looks so dry and crusty.
Maybe it’s an aristo thing? William’s lips always looked chapped, Kate’s skin is so dry, and don’t even get me started on Camilla. I think moisturizing might be a class marker, like dog hair on the furniture means stealth wealth? I know my peasant ass would be dragged if I left the house with crusty lips.
Booze may be a factor too. It dries you out like a husk.
Where’s Matthew McConaughey and who is the Black guy at the end?
There is something unholy about the first photo where he’s standing in front of the Christ the Redeemer statue. There’s something wrong with someone unholy standing in front of it for a PR photo op. This is a man who will be the head of the COE and he only goes to church when he’s forced to and he gives rides there to a paedo uncle and a lying racist wife. I will never not see these people as the type of people whose evil spirits always reveal themselves whenever they step into a church or near a holy and sacred space. Besides his evil spirits always revealing itself, I also see that his ugly velvet coat trend for ES is still a thing. I just wonder if his very close companion Knauf told him he looked good wearing velvet and it has become a thing now?
Reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza dressed in velvet.
Will is nothing like Diana, quite the opposite. He even called her paranoid.
I don’t know how anyone can take a bad photo with that magnificent statue, but somehow he did, and tried to make it all about him, instead of taking in the moment.
These are not really prizes so much as grants (they don’t get the £1m in one go, it’s in instalments). I’d be interested in what conditions attach to the subsequent instalments.
The financials generally look a bit off, going by the recent accounts. The staff bill is £5m per year, which seems a lot to me (especially relative to the prize money paid out). And there was £16m expenditure on the “Earthshot prize and platform” – I assume that includes the costs for William’s big fancy party with his celeb attendees and the pop concert thing (why??).
So it’s a vanity project.
Yes you can tell they spent millions for the awards show. They had to close down major monuments in Brazil that constantly have tourists..
They were flying drones to create images in the sky. The marketing alone for this is a few million.
I would love a real journalist to break down the expenses/carbon footprint on Earthshot. It would be really ugly.
That money could be so much better spent on the causes they’re supposedly promoting. It makes me furious – this is all just a facade to boost PW’s ego.
The drone show did make me laugh.
The *staff* bill is £5 million??? Sounds like a vehicle to push hush money to Knauf, who also knows where the bodies are buried, given that he likely buried several on behalf of his “boss”. I mean, we know that he tried to create some more… but luckily the intended victims escaped.
I saw a graphic the other day that the top 1%, globally, are responsible for 40% of yearly emissions. Cutting emissions by I think 36% would supposedly stop further climate change.
Wouldn’t it be nice though if Mr. Earthshit led the way in being more environmentally aware by firstly, getting rid of his private helicopter that he uses like a taxi? How about the private jets his family takes to vacation destinations? How is travelling to a different country every year to hold these prize ceremonies, with world-wide celebrities environmentally friendly? The whole thing could be based in London and done virtually, no? This ends up being just a vanity project meant to bring attention to William himself and for him to get photo ops with celebs and sporty action shots. How much good have these initiatives done for the environment since this all started? The ultimate vanity project is what this is! And it’s all just a cynical attempt to compete with Harry!
The homage to Diana is cringe. I’ve never understood KP’s obsession with having Diana’s sons copying something she did. Maybe it’s the press that asks for these types of photos. William was also interviewed by Christiane Amanpour. Only the Daily Express had a small photo of him on their front page with a quote from that interview, something about his children. I have not seen anything about the winners or where the next show will be held. The least the royal reporters could do is tweet about the winners but all I’ve seen is photos of Kylie Minogue and a video of William arriving to the venue on a tram. This event is just a bunch of gimmicks and the centering of William.
I think it’s just because they want to remind people of the interest and excitement that she drew – in the hope that a tiny bit of it might rub off on the deeply uninspiring PW. As if!
At the time, people felt sorry for Diana since she was posing in front of a monument to a loved wife alone. She posed to get sympathy while her marriage was breaking up. I have no idea why anyone would want to pay homage to that, especially her sons.
William finally gets to catch up to Harry following his mother’s footsteps in Angola. Except that Harry is patron of Halo Trust and was there as its patron to hi light the work of the Trust. William is just being a tourist, but he did get his phot-op to pit against Harry’s.
Why is he wearing a double breasted velvet jacket? Besides looking overdressed and ridiculous, isn’t it hot and humid there?
You know, if William wasn’t such a vindictive obsessive when it came to his brother and SIL, most people would chalk this event up as a nice side project for him that benefits some small environmental organizations in need of funding. However, his ridiculous competitiveness makes him try to scale this event up to something it’s not, then get upset with the Sussexes (not any other royals), when the press doesn’t devote time to it. He probably could have a nice time if he wasn’t so headline obsessed. Other than that, his outfit at Christ the Redeemer is hideous.
The whole thing just seems so douchy to me. Like these scientists care deeply, dedicate their live to building a solution, and when it’s done some prince rolls in with his glam squad to stamp his name on it and throw an award show that makes it seem like they all did this for him.