The Moving Moment Behind the Scenes at the Earthshot Prize Awards

It was a moment not lost on us.

Prince William and Kate Middleton
(Image credit: Getty)
Rachel Burchfield
By Rachel Burchfield
published

Here in the U.S., the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards will begin streaming at 2 p.m. EST on PBS.org and the PBS app beginning on Monday, December 5. You can also catch it on the Earthshot Prize YouTube channel. (You’ll definitely want to make time to watch, first of all for the stories of the winners and nominees, but also for the star-studded presenters and performers, the stage—trust us, it’ll blow your mind!—and, oh yeah, the Prince and Princess of Wales.)

When you do tune in, you’ll meet all of the nominees and the Prize’s five winners representing each of Earthshot’s five categories:

  • Clean our Air: Mukuru Clean Stoves, Kenya
  • Protect and Restore Nature: Kheyti, India
  • Revive our Oceans: Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
  • Build a Waste-Free World: Notpla, United Kingdom
  • Fix our Climate: 44.01, Oman

You’ll also see live performances from Chloe x Halle (Prince William said, of their performance, that “the staging and the lighting was amazing”), Annie Lennox, and Ellie Goulding (William and Catherine are longtime fans—she was their wedding singer in 2011!). Billie Eilish also performs in a pre-recorded clip, and celebrity presenters include Rami Malek, Catherine O’Hara, Shailene Woodley, and, yes, even David Beckham (a big fan of the royals—remember how he queued along with the rest of the public for over 10 hours to pay his respects to Her late Majesty?).

“I’m honored to be invited by Prince William,” he said. “I’m an optimist, because humans are capable of great creativity when we collaborate.”

Prince William and Kate Middleton

(Image credit: Getty)

Other celebrities on hand included Caroline Kennedy and two of her children, Jack and Tatiana Schlossberg, John Kerry, and, of course, the Prince and Princess of Wales, hosts of the event. Catherine presented an award, and William delivered remarks, saying in part “I believe that the Earthshot solutions you have seen this evening prove we can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges, and by supporting and scaling them, we can change our future.” He added “the decisions we make now will affect generations to come.”

But there was a touching moment you won’t see that captured this writer’s heart: In between set changes, a video clip of Ed Sheeran singing “Visiting Hours” from last year’s Earthshot Prize Awards in London was shown. It was impossible to not hear the lyrics and look right at the Prince of Wales, who less than three months ago lost someone very significant to him, his beloved grandmother the Queen:

I wish that Heaven had visiting hours

So I could just show up and bring the news…

So much has changed since you went away.

I wish that Heaven had visiting hours

So I could just swing by and ask your advice

What would you do in my situation?...

What would you do? ‘Cause you always do what’s right…

‘Cause this is not goodbye, it is just ‘til we meet again

So much has changed since you’ve been away.

Throughout most of the song the Prince of Wales was chatting with others, but, for a few moments, he looked ahead, pensive, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

The Waleses fly out Saturday in a private departure.

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more. 

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