Princess Kate and Prince William are gearing up for a significant overseas trip to Brazil for the Earthshot Prize, an initiative aimed at addressing environmental challenges. The couple will head out on this journey without their three kids, as family-focused priorities must come first.
The Princess has thrown herself even more into supporting her eldest son, Prince George. She takes him under her wing and shepherds him through his first big finals. One result of this commitment to family has been to pull her away from participating in the Earthshot Prize events over the last two years. In a recent statement, Prince William expressed understanding of his wife’s absence, affirming that she is actively helping George during this crucial time.
“Catherine is very sorry she can’t be here. She is helping George through his first set of major exams.” – William
Earthshot Prize Background
Prince William founded the Earthshot Prize in 2020. This initiative is modeled on former US President John F. Kennedy’s visionary Moonshot project. We want to tap the creativity of the world to come up with solutions. We’re only two years away from reaching the halfway mark of the Earthshot decade in 2025. That all just underscores how important this year’s event will be!
William looks forward to traveling to Rio de Janeiro in November for the next Earthshot Prize ceremony. We selected this site primarily due to its vascular plant species diversity. Brazil is set to host the COP30 UN climate change summit at the end of this year. The importance of the event is made even clearer as it shines a light on the real progress—many of them being efforts towards environmental innovation and sustainability.
“2025 marks the midway point of the Earthshot decade and each year we’ve witnessed the remarkable power of human ingenuity in addressing our planet’s most pressing challenges.” – William
Recent Developments and Future Plans
In the lead-up to this final event, Prince William has visited many other places around the world where the Earthshot initiative has roots. He traveled to Singapore in 2023 and Cape Town in 2022, engaging with global leaders and supporters of environmental causes. Read the full message that he shared on Instagram. It includes Earthshot advocates who are passionate about developing more equitable, sustainable, healthy, safe, and resilient communities.
This is especially so since William’s wife has suffered serious health issues recently, which required her to withdraw from public life in 2024 for treatment of cancer. Even so, he’s encouraged that Catherine will play an increasingly prominent role in future efforts. She’s been in remission since January 2025, and is able to enjoy family time and public service again, including a new memoir, Cancer and Chaos.
“Hopefully Catherine will be doing a bit more next year, so we’ll have some more trips maybe lined up.” – William
William admits that family comes first, particularly while their kids are still young and in school.
“Family-wise, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer because obviously they’re at school, and I think that takes priority over everything else.” – William
