Prince William appeared on The Graham Norton Show to promote the Earthshot Prize, the environmental award he founded in 2020. The next ceremony will be held on November 17 in Mumbai, India. This was no ordinary visit, as the BBC aired a special episode dedicated to the award last Friday, October 23.
According to The Sun, the show’s audience didn’t know he was going to appear and greeted him with cheers during the taping. The detail that has attracted the most attention is that he is the first member of the royal family to sit on the host’s famous red sofa—an iconic symbol of British television.
What is the Earthshot Prize?
The prize was created with the aim of spurring a decade of action to repair the damage done to the planet by 2030. It’s guided by a formula that encapsulates its spirit: urgency plus optimism equals action. It operates around five major goals: protecting and restoring nature, cleaning the air, revitalizing the oceans, building a world without waste, and halting climate change.
Each year, 15 finalists are selected from thousands of applications worldwide. The five winners—one for each category—receive one million pounds to expand their projects. When he introduced it, William spoke about a planet at its limits and about humanity’s capacity for innovation, reminding the audience that we have been able to put a man on the moon.
The 2026 finalists
This year’s list includes a name that will be of particular interest to Spanish readers. The city of Barcelona is competing in the oceans category for its initiatives to restore urban marine environments and its coastal ecosystems. Alongside it are a wide range of projects, including Bhutan, presented as a country with negative carbon emissions; the Danish energy company Ørsted and its commitment to offshore wind power; the PFAS Free France movement against so-called forever chemicals; and the Argentine organization Satellites on Fire, which uses satellites and artificial intelligence to detect wildfires.
It’s no coincidence that the awards ceremony is being held in India, as two of the finalists are from there: Mahila Housing Trust, with its women-led initiative for heat-reflective roofs, and Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, with its electric three-wheeled vehicles.
A more relaxed William than usual
On set, he was joined by Cate Blanchett, who serves on the Earthshot board and described the initiative as a “fabric of solutions,” along with Australian conservationist Robert Irwin and actress Hannah Waddingham. The conversation centered mainly on the award, but the prince also spoke about his passion for Aston Villa and his fondness for Christopher Nolan’s films.
Perhaps that’s where the real strategy lies. William knows that an entertainment program reaches an audience that would never read a climate report. Surrounded by Hollywood stars, he managed to get his most personal project into British living rooms on a Friday night.