When Prince William was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last November, I’m sure that he announced that the next Earthshot Prize ceremony would be staged in India. William tends to step all over his own dumb newscycles all the time – any PR expert would tell him to not confirm anything about the next Earthshot keenery to build anticipation. Maybe William has gotten that advice and he just ignores it because Bullium Knows Best! All of which to say, today William officially announced that Earthshot will go to Mumbai, India later this year. His announcement was met with a chorus of “wait, didn’t you already announce that months ago?”

Prince William is taking his prestigious Earthshot Prize environmental awards to India this year – one of the most polluted countries on the planet. The heir to the throne, who is now half-way through his ten-year project to highlight and scale-up the most innovative solutions to the climate crisis, will bring the initiative to the bustling ‘megacity’ of Mumbai.

It will bring together environmental and business leaders with investors and philanthropists, as five award winners each accept winning prize pots of £1 million. Earthshot is the future king’s biggest initiative on the global stage and one that he hopes will leave a lasting legacy.

One of the reasons the prince was so keen to take the awards to India is that it is home to more finalists and award-winners than any other country. He also believes that despite its pollution issues, India is proving that environmental responsibility can drive economic growth, facilitating everything from clean energy and new technology to nature restoration.

Announcing the 2026 host city, William said: ‘We must continue to look to the future with urgency and optimism, which is why I am delighted that Mumbai will host The Earthshot Prize 2026. India is one of the world’s most important forces for climate and nature. What succeeds in India at scale has the power to inspire progress everywhere. With the largest population of young people in the world, there is a real sense of momentum – to not only imagine a better future, but to inspire change and make it a reality. Together we can rise to meet our greatest challenge, to repair and restore our planet by 2030.’

[From The Daily Mail]

William’s speeches and public statements increasingly sound like they were written by AI. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what his staffers did, actually. Anyway, it’s interesting that last week was dominated by conversations of Earthshot and William’s close ties to one of Jeffrey Epstein’s best friends, who also happened to be a founding partner of Earthshot. And now that Ahmed Bin Sulayem has been tossed aside, William’s like “so, we’re going to India, pay attention to this!” The royalists are already buzzing about the last time William went to India, which was more than a decade ago and in the company of his wife. Y’all think that Kate is going to bother going to Mumbai this year? Doubt it. She’ll make up some excuse – she needs to put bows in Charlotte’s hair, or she needs to make the fakakta school run, etc.

The Earthshot Prize is going to India 🇮🇳

We couldn't be more excited for the 6th edition in Mumbai this November.

Follow @EarthshotPrize for all the latest updates on #EarthshotMumbai. pic.twitter.com/4sqYuHTXoF

— The Earthshot Prize (@EarthshotPrize) February 17, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.