BOSTON — The royals’ Boston swing culminated with something of an awards show, with Prince William and Princess Kate rubbing elbows with celebrities of Boston as they handed out millions of dollars in “Earthshot” prizes.
William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, sat at tables as their foundation doled out a million quid ($1.23 million) apiece for the winners of the prize for environmental innovation on Friday night.
“We can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges,” William said after entering with Kate. He reiterated that this is inspired by former President John F. Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech and noted that this was happening “in the heart of his hometown.”
Will and Kate had come in after everyone else, and the event hosts had everyone stand as Their Nibs took their seats.
“Free Ireland!” someone shouted from the gallery.
After a slight awkward silence, someone else more royal-friendly chimed in, “We love you, Kate!”
The pair took their seats at a VIP table next to one occupied by Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Michelle Wu and their spouses. Gov.-Elect Maura Healey, who chatted with Baker for quite a while before the event started, was at the next table over.
Other politicos in attendance included former U.S. Sen. John Kerry, and former Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s now the junior senator from Utah. It was a staffer-dense event.
Presenters included actor Rami Malek, soccer great David Beckham and actress Shailene Woodley. Others including Annie Lennox and Ellie Goulding showed up to sing, though pop star Billie Eilish, who had been billed as a performer at this event, just showed up in a video.
The whole thing was being filmed for TV, so it had some stops and starts that will go the road in production. The Earthshot folks piped in videos from assorted artists from last year’s event to keep the crowd occupied, including Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. The show will air on Sunday in the U.K. and Monday on PBS.
Winners of the event hosted by British radio presenter Clara Alfo — who had some positive commentary on the Boston accent — and actor Daniel Dae Kim included: Queensland Indigenous Women’s Ranger Network working on New Zealand Coastlines; Kheyti of India making modular greenhouses, Notpla making a potentially edible plastic substitute out of seaweed; Mukuru Clean Stoves creating healthy burning ovens in Kenya; and 44.01 in Oman, sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and into rocks.
Earlier in the day, William met President Joe Biden at the JFK Library before they went their separate ways, Will to the Earthshot event and Biden to the IBEW union hall in Dorchester for a fundraiser.
