Heir to the green throne

PRINCE Charles will have brimmed with pride as his son championed the environment on the global stage. Prince William addressed world finance chiefs, urging them to invest in a “brighter, greener, more prosperous future”.

He described how a “billion people depend on declining fish stocks as their main source of protein” and the “livelihoods of another billion depend on the forests that we are cutting down”.

His father’s focus on green issues once prompted smirks and raised eyebrows but there is now near-consensus that the world must confront the threat of catastrophic climate change. There is every sign William will use his position to carry on Charles’ work as a defender not just of the realm but, as he put it, “our precious planet”.