In August, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to Colombia, on the invitation of the country’s vice president. The British media threw a huge tantrum over it, slamming Colombia, belittling the continent of South America, and saying outright that only desperate and pathetic countries would invite the Sussexes to visit. Even more hilarious was when the royal reporters revealed that those talking points came directly from Buckingham Palace. Well, first they cry, then they mock, and then they copy. Guess who’s going to South America next year? It looks like Prince William will soon announce that Earthshot’s 2025 ceremony will be held in South America, and he also revealed plans to go to COP30 in Brazil.
Prince William is looking ahead to the next year of taking his environmental mission, The Earthshot Prize, around the world. The Prince of Wales, 42, is looking forward to “playing a role” at the next big climate control meeting in Brazil, PEOPLE understands.
His attendance at the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference — known in shorthand as COP30, and scheduled for mid-November 2025 —would be the latest stage of his increasing role as a world statesman. In doing so, Prince William would follow in the footsteps of his father King Charles, who has attended — and spoken at — climate conferences several times.
The next venue for William’s Earthshot Prize Awards — the fifth iteration of the 10 ceremonies expected — has yet to be announced, but it is widely expected to be in South America.
Conveniently, the Earthshot Prize Awards typically fall within the first weeks of November, setting the Prince of Wales up to potentially attend COP30, which runs from Nov. 10 to 21.
Usually, William announces the next year’s Earthshot host city at Earthshot or just after. The silence seems to indicate that maybe South American countries aren’t all that eager to play host to Peggington’s vanity project? It would be hilarious if William demanded to go to Colombia, but I suspect he’ll probably try to go to Brazil. The fact that William is running around, briefing everyone about his plans to go somewhere in November 2025 shows you that this sad man has very little on his plate:
The Prince of Wales will attend next year’s COP climate conference in Brazil, it has been confirmed, as he pushes to “use his platform to spread urgent optimism” around the environmental debate. He wants to take that message to the high-level UN climate conference – due to take place in Belem next November.
A royal source said: “Throughout his trip (to South Africa) the prince spoke about the importance of not losing sight of what needs to be done between now and 2030 – the Earthshot decade. His commitment to restoring the future of the planet is unwavering and the prince is determined to do all he can to use his platform to spread urgent optimism. Next year, the climate COP will take place in Brazil, and it’s set to be hugely consequential. The Prince of Wales is looking forward to playing a role there.”
His decision to attend COP can potentially be seen as a sign of his desire to take on an even greater diplomatic role in the environmental sphere. It’s understood that Prince William’s decision to fly to Brazil won’t necessarily be in place of the King, who has delivered keynote speeches at a number of COP conferences, and is viewed as a global leader in environmental matters. But the King’s attendance would be at the foreign office’s request, and under the advice of doctors following his cancer treatment.
Just so we’re clear, he briefed everyone about his plans to attend next year’s COP conference… while he and his father are not bothering to go to this year’s conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. That’s how much William “cares” about all of this, including statesmanship – he’s too lazy to actually go to a conference of world leaders this week, because he’s too busy screaming about how he’ll be a statesman one year from now. Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing where Earthshot will go next year. As I said, I bet they’re having difficulties finding a country to host.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.