(Boston) The Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, wrapped up their first visit to the United States since 2014 on Friday with a meeting with President Joe Biden and a gala-competition on climate change.
The three-day trip by the British royal couple, the first abroad since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, has been clouded by a controversy in the United Kingdom sparked by racist remarks made at a party on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace, London.
Around this trip, which took place in relative indifference of the inhabitants of Boston, also hovered the climate of rivalry between William and his younger brother Harry and his wife, the American actress Meghan Markle, exiled in California, and in which Netflix is devoting a documentary next week.
At the end of his visit, the Prince of Wales, who is 40, met in Boston with President Biden, who is twice as old, to discuss climate change in this historic New England city, symbol of colonialism British until the Revolution and the independence of the United States at the end of the XVIIIe century.
Polar cold
Under a polar cold, William chaired in the early evening the second edition of the “Earthshot” prize which he created in 2020 to support innovations aimed at combating climate change.
Five prizes of over one million pounds (C$1.27 million) each were awarded.
A myriad of stars paraded on the green carpet this time at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, including singers Ellie Goulding and Annie Lennox, actor Rami Malek and former soccer player David Beckham. Naturalist and television presenter David Attenborough and actress Cate Blanchett were the judges of this gala competition.
Among the winners were a women’s start-up that provides greener cooking hobs for households in Kenya and a British company that makes biodegradable packaging from sea plants. Green projects from Australia, India and Oman also won awards.
“I believe the ‘Earthshot’ solutions you have seen tonight prove that we are capable of tackling our planet’s greatest challenges. […] and change our future,” said the Prince of Wales.
Rising waters
Thursday, William and Kate had visited research and innovation laboratories against climate change in Boston, a city on the edge of the Atlantic which, like New York, is threatened by rising waters.
Parent of three children aged 4 to 9, the princely couple strives to project a more modern and accessible image of the monarchy, but also an irreproachable sense of duty.
But the trip suffered from a new controversy over racism in the United Kingdom, at the wrong time for the royal family, which wants to restore its image after the departure of Harry and Meghan in the United States.
An 83-year-old former lady-in-waiting, Susan Hussey, close to Elizabeth II for more than 60 years and godmother to Prince William, resigned on Wednesday after questions (“Where are you from in Africa?”, “D ‘where do you really come from? Where do people like you come from?’) she asked a black feminist, Ngozy Fulani, at a reception in Buckingham on Tuesday evening.
The palace denounced “unacceptable and truly regrettable comments”. Refusing to comment directly on the incident, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Britain’s first head of government of Indian origin, called for “confronting” racism “whenever it is seen”.
The shadow of the couple Harry/Meghan (the Sussexes) also hovered over William and Kate.
Buckingham is apprehensively awaiting the December 8 release of a Netflix documentary series about Harry and Meghan, and the worldwide release in January of Harry’s memoir with its embarrassing revelations.
Meghan Markle is a mixed-race American, who returned to California with Harry: they revealed in 2021 that a member of the royal family had wondered before his birth about the skin color of their son Archie. The royal family is “certainly not racist”, replied William, cold with his younger son Harry.