Prince William will represent King Charles at next month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Brazil, it was confirmed by Kensington Palace on Thursday evening.
The announcement came as His Majesty and The Prince of Wales made a rare joint appearance at the Natural History Museum in London for the ‘Countdown to COP30: Mobilising Action for Climate and Nature’ event.
Belém, often referred to as the “gateway to the Amazon,” will host world leaders at the annual United Nations meeting focused on global efforts to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
Prince William was already due to travel to Brazil for the fifth Earthshot Prize Awards in Rio de Janeiro. The awards, launched by The Prince in 2020, recognise five global initiatives each year with £1 million grants to help scale up innovative environmental solutions.
Following the ceremony, William will travel north to Belém on 6th November to attend the COP30 world leaders’ summit on behalf of his father. His participation has been described by royal sources as a significant step in his growing role in “climate diplomacy.”
The Prince has previously spoken alongside global figures such as President Emmanuel Macron at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco.
At Thursday’s event, the King and his eldest son – both long-standing advocates for environmental causes – arrived together in the State Bentley and were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband and former British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Inside the museum’s Hintze Hall, the pair viewed displays from the ‘Fixing Our Broken Planet‘ exhibition and met business and finance leaders supporting forest protection projects in the UK and around the world. They also spoke with Brazil’s Ambassador to the UK, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, and Minister of Health Alexandre Padilha, representing the COP30 host nation.
William told the ambassador he was delighted to be bringing the Earthshot Awards to Brazil and hoped the event would create ‘a sense of collective excitement’ ahead of the summit.
King Charles has been a leading global voice on climate and nature for over five decades. As Prince of Wales, he attended numerous COP summits and, as Monarch, opened the COP28 conference in Dubai last year, reminding delegates that ‘The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth’.
At the Natural History Museum event, Charles and William watched powerful short films, including the King’s ‘The Speeches: 50 Years of Speaking Up for the Planet’ and the Prince’s ‘Guardians‘ series, which highlights the work of conservation rangers.
The King met with representatives from organisations such as GSK and Standard Bank – both of whom are partners in his Sustainable Markets Initiative – as well as schoolchildren from Harris Academy in Surrey, who shared their project transforming their school grounds into a haven for biodiversity.
While the two royals are often seen together at state occasions, joint appearances at working engagements are rare. Their joint engagement is being viewed as a symbolic passing of the torch, with Prince William increasingly taking on the environmental leadership role long associated with his father.
Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: ‘We need everyone in society to get on board to tackle the twin challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. The collective commitment to act for the planet was palpable tonight – from the support of His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to the leadership of the UK Government and the school students who are striving to make a difference’.
