Prince William appeared in high spirits this morning as he visited a Hereford farm to learn about its journey to becoming net zero.
The Prince of Wales, 42, travelled to Lower Blakemere Farm, which is located on his Duchy of Cornwall estate.
The 630-acre farm was founded by couple Adrian and Valli, who began nurturing land that was part of the Guys Hospital Estate in the 1980s.
When the couple retired, married couple Phil and Heather took over the day-to-day running of the farm, which also employs their son Monty.
Today, the Prince of Wales – who is passionate about environmental causes – is learning about the family’s regenerative farming practices as part of their journey to net zero.
For the outing, the Prince cut a casual figure in a green waterproof and tweed baker boy hat.
The royal father-of-three wore a light blue shirt and a pair of practical navy trousers.
Moments after arriving, William viewed a brand-new grain store and a variety of regenerative farming equipment, including a large seed drill in operation.
After this, William accompanied the farming family on a tour to see their composting projects.
Today’s engagement is part of a greater environmental cause the Prince of Wales is known to feel deeply about.
Prince William founded The Earthshot Prize in 2020 – having been inspired by John F Kennedy’s Moonshot initiative that united millions of people around the common goal of putting put a man on the moon.
Each year, the global campaign selects 15 finalists to take part in a Fellowship Programme and awards five programmes with £1m to scale up their groundbreaking projects.
Since it was founded in 2020, The Earthshot Prize has given more than £20m away in prize money for environmental causes and been the catalyst for over £86m in direct support for 60 Prize Winners and Finalists.
On top of this, Earthshot alumni from 2021-2023 have reduced, avoided, or captured 420,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions—equivalent to taking around 100,000 cars off the road for one year—and protected and restored 170,000 square kilometres of land and ocean, an area the size of Ireland and Iceland combined.
It’s shaping up to be a busy week for Prince William, who attended a poignant Holocaust memorial event in London last night with his wife.
The Prince and Princess of Wales took part in the official event at Guidhall to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The emotional ceremony brought together faith and civic leaders as well as survivors of the Holocaust and more recent genocides.
Princess Kate, wearing all black with a five-string pearl necklace, and William, dressed in a navy suit and blue tie, described it as a ‘great honour’ to attend as they met with a group of survivors who told her of their heartrendering personal stories.
This included an emotional reunion with Steven Frank, 89, whom Kate met four years ago when the pair shared a hug in touching scenes in which she told him: ‘I want to give you a big cuddle.’
Kate had taken a photo of Mr Frank and his grandchildren in 2020 as part of the ‘Generations: Portrait of Holocaust Survivors’ project that at the time marked 75 years since the end of the genocide.
He thanked her for sending him a Christmas card and the pair chatted about his family.
She also warmly embraced survivor Yvonne Bernstein, 87 – who also had her picture taken by the Princess in 2020 – before Kate clasped her hands and sat beside her and said: ‘(It is) such a treat for me (to see) an old friend.’
It comes as King Charles III today became the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau as he told Holocaust survivors it was ‘sombre and sacred’ to be in Poland.
