William: As we watched a programme on extinction, a sad George asked me: Why has it come to this?
Prince on spur for eco crusade
PRINCE William has said his inspiration to act on climate change was his son George, who was so upset by a David Attenborough film they had to turn it off.
The Duke of Cambridge said the seven-year-old watched the piece on extinction and told him: “I don’t want to watch any more, why has it come to this?”
Dad-of-three Wills believes we need “a decade of repairing the planet, so we can hand it on to future generations”.
William, 38, opened up at the launch of his £ 50million Earthshot Prize project yesterday, saying he had looked at his kids and asked himself: “Am I doing enough on this?”
He said: “Are we really at this stage when I can’t be optimistic and pleased my children are getting so into nature because you worry they’re soon going to realise we’re in a dangerous and difficult time in the environment, and that as a parent, you feel you’re letting them down?
“So, having watched so many David Attenborough documentaries with my children, the most recent one, the extinction one, George and I had to turn it off, we got so sad.
“He said, ‘I don’ t want to watch this any more, why has it come to this?’ He’s asking me these questions already, he really feels it.
“Everyone wants to do the best for their children and we have to have a decade of repairing the planet, so we can hand it to future generations.”
William – also dad to Charlotte, five, and Louis, two – hailed dad Prince Charles, 71, and grandad Prince Philip, 99, for their lifelong conservation work. But he added: “My father was ahead of his time talking about climate change.
“I don’t want to be ahead of my time because we are already too late. Now is the time to act.”
Earthshot will offer five £1million prizes a year for 10 years to ideas in five areas – protecting nature, cleaning air, reviving oceans, tackling waste and fixing our climate.
Nominations open on November 1 and William will pick winners with big names from sport, the environment, entertainment and business.
I don’t want to be ahead of my time because we are already too late
WILLIAM ON THE URGENT NEED FOR CLIMATE ACTION