Prince William lived like a true New Yorker as he went for a jog in Central Park Tuesday. The handsome heir to the British throne, who’s in NYC for the Earthshot Summit — which celebrates his climate competition the Earthshot Prize — said at that event: “I decided to join the hordes of New Yorkers during their morning routine …
“It was wonderful waking up in New York on a sunny morning rather than the rain we had yesterday. It was beautiful getting some fresh air this morning.”
William, 41, was greeted as an international statesman at the star-studded environment summit at the Plaza Hotel — an honor that’s never been afforded to his estranged younger brother, Prince Harry.
He was given a hero’s welcome to the city by former mayor Mike Bloomberg, who praised William for winning over “Americans of all stripes — which, as we know, is no small feat.”
Bloomberg, 81, referred to the recent Gallup poll where William was declared to be more popular in America than President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“Prince William came out on top,” said Bloomberg. “The poll said he was viewed positively by 60 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans.
“America has not seen that kind of bipartisanship since 1776,” the billionaire joked.
He praised William for ” building on his father and grandmother’s dedication to environmental stewardship” and said he was in a “unique position” to bring people together.
“There was no Nobel for working to save the planet, so he decided to create one,” Bloomberg said of the Earthshot Prize.
Hours after arriving Monday, William had a one-on-one meeting with United Nations secretary general António Guterres, whom he thanked for supporting the Earthshot Prize.
The pair discussed the “efforts required to accelerate the fight against climate change and protect the environment,” a UN spokesperson said. “They also discussed efforts to enhance implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as financing for development.”
In contrast, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were given just half an hour with Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the UN in 2021.
William explained how he was forced to delay his trip to NYC following the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth last September and said he was delighted to finally be in town for the first time since 2014. Talking to Vaitea Cowan, co-founder of green-energy company Enapter, William said his hopes were to follow in the footsteps of JFK’s Moonshot program — which led to the introduction of the X-ray machine and solar panels.
“It was a very sweaty process,” he joked of the nearly two years it took to develop the prize, ” I kept being shown these amazing things happening and I felt the impact wasn’t being achieved.
After a summer of wildfires from Maui to Canada, he added, “We have to hang on to our hope. We remark on how doom and gloom everything is. There is hope … there are people out there doing massive things.”
William will be joined by his wife Kate when they fly to Singapore for this year’s Earthshot Prize in November, where five winners will be given 1 million pounds ($1, 240,000).
“I’m really pleased with how we’ve achieved gone better than I’ve hoped, we’ve still a lot of work to do,” William said.
