Why Princess Kate Is Skipping the Earthshot Prize Again in 2025

Next month, the Prince of Wales will travel to Brazil for the 2025 Earthshot Prize, which will hold its first South American ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 5. The ceremony will mark the halfway point for the Earthshot Prize, which Prince William founded in 2020 with with the goal of promoting a decade of dedicated work toward solving the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet today through 2030.

The Earthshot Prize is understandably a cause that's especially close to William's heart, but when it comes time to leave for the trip, he will be going solo, as his wife, Kate Middleton, is once again not scheduled to accompany him for the event.

While the Earthshot Prize and the important work the finalists for the award do are clearly important to Kate, too, her decision to skip the ceremony isn't thought to have anything to do with the Earthshot Prize and everything to do with her and William's dedication to hands-on parenting.

According to Express, Kate's decision to stay at the Wales family's Windsor home while Will travels solo to Brazil for the Earthshot Prize ceremony is believed to be due to the needs of the couple's three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7.

Will and Kate are famously hands-on parents and Express reports that it's believed the couple has a private rule to always try to make sure at least one of them is home with their children to handle parenting duties, like school drop-offs and pick-ups.

And this policy is nothing new—the Prince and Princess of Wales appear to have taken this approach to balancing parenting duties with the demands of being working royals for years now, including last year, when Kate stayed home with the kids rather than traveling with William for the 2024 Earthshot Prize ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa. In fact, Kate hasn't attended the Earthshot Prize ceremony in-person since 2022, when it was held in Boston, according to Express.

William made sure to pass along his family's regrets over not being able to join him at the ceremony in South Africa.

"I love Cape Town, I've had the most amazing week here, I've really enjoyed it. I don't want to go!" he told the audience at the event. "My children would love to be here, so would Catherine."

The Earthshot Prize was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Moonshot, in which he challenge the United States to put an American astronaut on the moon by the end of the decade—a challenge the nation met in July 1969. Like Kennedy's Moonshot generated excitement and provided motivation about the space program, the Earthshot Prize was created to “ignite a decade of urgent action, innovation and global collaboration to repair and regenerate our planet,” a spokesman explained to People.

“Earthshot was founded because we are in a decisive moment. it's a ten-year window of opportunity where our actions today will shape life on Earth for generations to come," Jason Knauf, CEO of the Earthshot Prize, said, explaining the organization's origins and goals (per People).

“The Earthshot Prize was also founded because Prince William believes that this decade can be a great human success story," he added. "That with urgency and optimism we can make these years count. Today as we stand at the half way mark of our mission, our work feels more important than ever.”

William drove that point home personally in a new video shared to The Princess and Princess of Wales Instagram. In it, the future King emphasizes the importance of not just working toward the Earthshot Prize's goals, but doing so immediately, within the organization's crucial 10-year timeline.

“Now, more than ever, is the time to fix the planet,” Will says in the video. "I sat under this oak tree five years ago, soon after we launched The Earthshot Prize. The planet, the only home we have, needed our help, as scientists made it clear that we had to make significant changes by 2030."

William understands how quickly the Earthshot Prize's decade will pass because he's felt time seem to speed up in his own life amid his work with the organization.

"Back then, a decade felt a long time. George was seven, Charlotte five and Louis two; the thought of them in 2030 felt a lifetime away. But today, as we stand halfway through this critical decade, 2030 feels very real," he explains in the video. "The Earthshot Prize was founded because this decade matters. "2030 is a threshold by which future generations will judge us; it is the point at which our actions, or lack of them, will have shaped forever the trajectory of our planet."

William also shared the hope the Earthshot Prize and its current finalists give him for our ability to solve the environmental issues facing the planet.

"It is impossible to hear these finalists’ stories, to see the impact they are already having and not feel encouraged by their energy and momentum," he explains."For me, it is that urgent optimism that has been at the heart of this Prize from the beginning. And it feels unstoppable. The people behind these projects are heroes of our time, so let us back them. Because, if we do, we can make the world cleaner, safer and full of opportunity — not only for future generations, but for the lives we want to lead now."