Prince William refuses to be drawn on Andrew scandal and Harry and Meghan rift
Prince William, who is the Prince of Wales, spoke to journalists during his trip to Brazil, where earlier this week he presented accolades at the prestigious Earthshot Prize awards
Royal experts praised Prince William for the way he handled a media interview(Image: CNN)
Prince William refused to be drawn on the Andrew Mountbatten Windsor scandal.
The Prince of Wales was quizzed by journalists about his uncle, and his strained relationship with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. He diplomatically declined to comment on either rows, instead telling reporters in Brazil he wants to surround himself “with people who do good”.
Currently on his Earthshot Prize trip in the nation, the heir to the British throne impressed during his “fireside” chat with CNN’s veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour. The 43-year-old royal praised the winners of the Earthshot Prizes, which he handed out earlier this week, and said: “Change will come from backing them not by what I do.”
This was in response to Ms Amanpour’s question about the chatter William intends to pursue “change for good” when he is king. Ms Amanpour, a British-Iranian reporter, asked if could expand on his comments, “given there has been a lot of change in your family recently”.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour struggled to get much out of the Prince of Wales(Image: CNN)
Members of the audience cheered when Prince William heaped praise on the Earthshot award winners, who include the team behind Lagos Fashion Week for transforming one of the world’s most wasteful industries by creating a new fashion economy.
And royal experts have praised William’s decision to remain tight-lipped about Andrew, whose prince title and his HRH style were formally removed by King Charles this week. One insider said: “Unlike Harry, William doesn’t air the family laundry in public.”
Speaking about climate change and ensuring we protect our planet, the royal told the CNN reporter: “You have to provide a leadership and a vision that there’s good things to come and it’s not all negative.
“And for my children, particularly, knowing that the planet’s going to be in a better, healthier state because of the people in this room is something I love to tell them when they go to bed – it’s going to be great, your future is going to be as bright as futures gone by and that’s a really important message for all us to hear. A world without hope and a world without positivity is a pretty depressing place.”
William and Sir Keir Starmer have been in Brazil this week(Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The Prince of Wales landed in Rio de Janeiro on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of his environmental award, the Earthshot Prize. He will end his first visit to Brazil by meeting Indigenous peoples to hear about the role they play in protecting critical ecosystems later today. The dad gave a landmark speech at the Cop30 UN Climate Change summit in Belem, a city in the Amazon.
He told delegates, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer: “Where Indigenous people and local communities have secured land rights, deforestation is lower, biodiversity is richer, and carbon is better stored.
“Let us build a future where Indigenous people and local communities are recognised as global climate leaders – where their rights are protected, their voices heard, and their knowledge respected as vital to the health of our planet.”
