Prince William has said he wants to go “a step further” than his family have done in the past by bringing change instead of just raising awareness about important causes.
The future king outlined his plan to serve the country through impact-focussed, social campaigns that create real-world change.
William, 41, was addressing a press briefing in Singapore on Wednesday (8 November), one day after he attended the third annual Earthshot Prize awards ceremony.
Speaking to travelling British media, William reportedly charted his course to the UK’s throne, including “going deeper and longer” about issues that he is truly passionate about, rather than simply “spotlighting” and raising awareness about good causes.
William said: “I care about so many things and previously the family have been very much spotlighting brilliantly and going round and highlighting lots – I want to go a step further.
“I want to actually bring change and I want to bring people to the table who can do the change if I can’t do it,” he continued, as per a report by The Telegraph.
Singapore Prince William— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
In his first year as the Prince of Wales, William launched Homewards, a five-year initiative aimed at ending homelessness in the UK as well as a mental health scheme for the farmer tenants of Duchy of Cornwall.
Speaking at this year’s Earthshot Prize awards ceremony, launched by his Royal Foundation charity in 2020, William also expressed his desire to expand the programme into a global movement with a laser-sharp focus supporting green innovators on a mission to tackle the climate crisis.
The thing that ties all of these different initiatives together, he told reporters in Singapore, is “social leadership”.
William added: “I’ve been in the homelessness sector for a long time now, and so rather than just being patron, I want to do more. I want to actually build the homes, I want to provide them with the mental support, all the employment and the education they might need.
“So it’s all these wraparound services, it’s kind of going deeper and longer than it is the case of just having loads of causes that you sort of turn up and keep an eye on.”
The Earthshot Prize was launched 10-year program offering £1m ($1.2 million) each to five winners every year who developed solutions for the planet’s environmental threats.
Britain’s Prince William, left, and Singapore’s deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong visit the Central Catchment Nature Reserve of Singapore (Vincent Thian/AP)— (AP)
This year, an Indian maker of solar-powered dryers (S4S Technologies), a soil carbon marketplace (Boomitra), and groups that work to make electric car batteries cleaner (GRST), restore Andean forests (Acción Andina), and deter illegal fishing (WildAid) were awarded the prize, during a ceremony hosted by Emmy-winning star Hannah Waddingham.
“We are going to go from being a prize to becoming a platform and becoming a movement,” William told an Earthshot conference, one day after the five 2023 winners were named.
“Climate anxiety will no longer be something that the next generation fear,” he added. “We will have many more champions and role models to follow and people who can lead us in this transition. It will not be so daunting, time consuming or difficult, everything will become easier.
“That’s my version of 2030.”
Back home in Britain, however, a new Bill ensuring that new North Sea oil and gas licenses are awarded every year was announced during his father, Charles’s first ever King’s Speech since being crowned.
This legislation was pushed through despite prime minister Sunak’s pledges to reach net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050.
In his 64-year tenure as Prince of Wales, before succeeding his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles served as a patron to over 400 charities, supporting a wide range of causes associated with the environment, arts, rural communities, healthcare, and education.
Meanwhile, William is patron to a much smaller number of charities, with the heir to the British throne expressing his desire to “show my intent more” without spreading himself “too thin” across multiple causes.
“You have to remain focused, if you spread yourself too thin you just can’t manage it and you won’t deliver the impact or the change that you really want to happen,” he concluded on Wednesday.
