Charles tells of his pride in William (who already has an electric car charging point)
THE Prince of Wales last night praised Prince William for his work to save the planet, saying: ‘I am very proud of my son’ as it was revealed the Duke of Cambridge has installed an electric car charger at Kensington Palace.
In a rare and touching public statement of support ahead of tonight’s award ceremony for William’s Earthshot Prize, Prince Charles spoke of William’s ‘growing commitment to the environment’ and his ‘bold ambition’.
Charles added: ‘As a world, we need to come together to inspire, reimagine and build the sustainable future we so desperately need. Over the coming decade, with future generations in mind, the Earthshot Prize, and its inspirational nominees, will help us find the innovative solutions.’ The prize was launched last year to search for ways to tackle the problems facing the planet.
Charles has launched his own Terra Carta/Sustainable Markets initiative, which aims to spend ‘trillions of dollars’ helping business switch to green ways of working.
Charles said last week that his 51-year-old Aston Martin had been converted to run on surplus wine and whey from cheese.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Prince William has had a charging point installed at Kensington Palace for an electric car. A source said it was ‘the first phase of a project to install charging points across the entire Royal estate’.
However, a poll for The Mail on
Sunday today finds that two thirds of voters do not plan to follow William’s example. Asked whether they will buy an electric vehicle before 2030, 71 per cent say they won’t.
Prince William will host the awards ceremony tonight – after a filmed introduction from the London Eye – to grant five environmental entrepreneurs £1million each to help develop their businesses.
When Prince William threw open his Instagram page on Friday to a live ‘question and answer’ session, he was braced to respond to all the big questions of the day.
But there was one curveball that even William could not have predicted, when one young follower asked: ‘Are unicorns real?’ William laughed, composed himself and replied: ‘Well, I think if you ask my daughter she would say they were real. Obviously, it’s a trade secret so I couldn’t possibly comment.’
More serious questions were about his inspiration for the Earthshot prize, which he said came from the feeling that ‘ultimately, I want my children’s future to be better than what we currently have.’