Prince William has been pulled into a Donald Trump rant after he made an important speech about environmental issues. The royal, 43, was joined by fellow eco-warriors at Bloomberg’s London HQ on Tuesday – which is where he gave the informative speech.
Speaking about the Earthshot Prize, the environmental project that he founded in 2020, William said: “Everything we want to do here starts with a team game… From a personal point of view, I’ve always wanted to get [to] South America, particularly Brazil. So I’m personally very excited about going down there. I think South America as a whole, the amount of ecosystem, kind of environmental interest and passion that is there…”
Discussing Earthshot Prize further, he added: “I think that’s really important. And I think they epitomize the approach to what we can be doing more sustainably. The vibrancy, the energy, the enthusiasm. I think the awards will be spectacular.”
During a different panel event, however, the prince was in the audience when other speakers criticised President Trump’s green credentials.
After welcoming the royal to the event, Mike Bloomberg – the former mayor of New York City – said: “I’m lucky enough to have known [William] for a long time and his father [King Charles] and I think the UK is very well served.”
Drawing in the comment about Trump, and America in general, Mike added that while there was “good reason to be optimistic” about the state of the planet, the US “has not been doing its share lately.”
Further criticism of the US came from the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduoardo Paes, which is where the next Earthshot Prize later this year, is set to take place.
He said: “Local governments. We don’t want to do any politics here, but we saw what Donald Trump did in his first term. If it was not for the local governments, for the mayors, the U.S. would be in big trouble.
“We’re going to try to announce also in Rio what the local governments, especially the mayors in the US, have been achieving. So finance is our biggest challenge. We need to look at climate change and sustainability…as something that means a way to develop your country. So I look at Brazil. I see that we’ve got a big opportunity here.”
Speaking of Trump’s feelings toward William – and the royals in general – a source close to William joked with the Sunday Times recently, “[Donald] Trump seems obsessed with him, which is fantastic for the UK.”
