Prince William beamed alongside the winners of a Blue Peter Earthshot competition which asked young environmentalists to submit their entries for sustainability-focused ideas.
In a special reception hosted at Windsor Castle, the Prince of Wales presented the children with certificates and also had fun creating eco-friendly bird feeders with the winners, themed around his Earthshot Prize.
The competition ran by the BBC, invited kids aged five to 15, to submit an idea aiming to set out five goals set by William’s Eathshot Prize.
These were – Protect And Restore Nature; Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans; Build A Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.
The winners, who showed their ideas to William at the reception, also presented their ideas at the Speaker’s House in the House of Commons, in front of members of a cross-party environmental committee.
House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “I was absolutely thrilled to meet the Blue Peter Earthshot competition winners and to hear their imaginative and innovative ideas to help protect the planet.
“The thought that had gone into their ideas, and the enthusiasm with which they discussed them with us was genuinely exciting.”
Among the winners was Marni, aged eight, from London, who came up with a “family forests” idea where a tree is planted for every person in the UK, and Mia, aged eight, from North Yorkshire, who proposed cleaning polluted water using algae ponds.
There was also Llewyn, aged nine, from Glasgow, who had an idea to invent compostable glasses, and Ruby, aged 10, from Devon, who entered with an idea to reduce waste with solar-powered vans.
Annie, aged 12, from Milton Keynes, had a proposal to save coral reefs by supplying them with nutrients and calcium using “ocean bursts” – an idea inspired by bath bombs.
Prince William founded the Earthshot Prize environmental award in 2020 with a 10-year mission to find ways to protect and repair the environment with innovative solutions.
The Royal Foundation website states: “As well as identifying evidence-based solutions to the biggest environmental problems the planet faces, The Earthshot Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism that we can rise to the biggest challenges of our time.”
BBC’s Blue Peter said it had received almost 2,000 entries from across the UK.
The ideas will be celebrated on the show at 5pm on Friday on CBBC and BBC iPlayer.