Prince William was seen at the Oval cricket ground on Friday and not only did he meet the Earthshot 2022 winners, but he also recalled the sweetest father-son moment with Prince George that will melt your heart.
The Prince of Wales, 41, embarked upon a solo royal engagement to the cricket ground in Kennington, London where he heard all about how seaweed-based packaging made by Notpla, the winners of the 2022 Earthshot prize, is looking to sign a deal to save millions of units of plastic from the environment.
During the visit, the Prince met Surrey County Cricket Club players and was seen chatting to former England batsman Alec Stewart.
William told the cricketer that he had taken his son Prince George, 10, to watch England play against Australia in the Ashes last summer, but confessed that the young royal “spent most of his time eating pizza”.
William remarked: “I was like, ‘We’re here to watch the cricket, come outside!’. We’ll get it in a Notpla next time.”
William founded the Earthshot Prize to fund the development of projects that seek to repair the planet. During his outing on Friday, the Prince met the prize-winning innovators who created compostable food containers made from 100% natural seaweed.
The royal connected Notpla with the leading sports and entertainment caterer, Levy, which now uses sustainable products in over 50 venues including The Oval, Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis Club, and the O2 Arena in Greenwich.
During the outing, William was seen speaking to Pierre-Yves Paslier, the co-founder of Notpla, whilst holding a portion of food to see the seaweed containers in action. The father-of-three said: “I’ve not stopped smiling since this morning, I’ve been so excited about the launch. This is what we spoke about when devising Earthshot.
“The solutions are out there, we just need to find them and help them grow,” he added. “This collaboration is just the start I’m sure, it’s going to open everyone’s eyes to the massive opportunities of using seaweed as a substitute for millions of containers, it’s so exciting.”
Meanwhile, Pierre-Yves said: “The Prince is super keen to help others and he has been totally influential in getting us to the next level. We have met five or six times in the last few months, in public and private and he is very engaged – I would call him a seaweed man!”.
The containers will hold the kind of food Prince George enjoyed at the cricket last year.
The engagement comes just days before Princess Kate’s husband launched the creation of The Earthshot Prize Launchpad, a new online “matchmaking platform” that will connect investors and philanthropists with environmental solutions.
