Prince William joins King for rare outing ahead of COP30 climate change conference

William is travelling to the South American country for his Earthshot Prize awards in Rio next month, but will stay on to join world leaders at the UN conference in Belem in the Amazon.

Kensington Palace confirmed the prince is to attend the summit on behalf of his father, and give a speech, with the announcement seen as a major development of the heir to the throne’s responsibilities on the world stage.

The King, 76, who is still being treated for cancer, previously led the event in person on the royal front.

It will be the first time William has travelled internationally for a Cop summit, having previously attended COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, as did Charles.

The King and William arrived at the Natural History Museum together in the state Bentley for a Countdown to Cop30 reception on Thursday evening, designed to shine a spotlight on environmental challenges ahead of the climate talks in six weeks’ time.

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They were all smiles as they were seen chatting to each other as they walked up the stone steps, with the King leading the way at first before they walked side by side, amid intense flash photography from awaiting cameras.

The royal duo met a host of politicians in the vast Hintze Hall including former prime minister Theresa May.

The event, hosted by the museum and the UK Government, was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds.

It brought together global climate ambassadors from the private sector, scientific research and environmental charities including a delegation from Brazil.

The King and the prince were last pictured at the same London museum together in 2019 but with the Duke of Sussex, when the trio – whose relationship is now troubled – joined Sir David Attenborough for the premiere of the broadcaster’s Our Planet series.

William last week set out his own approach to his future role as king, saying “change is on my agenda – change for good” in an interview with Eugene Levy for Apple TV+ series The Reluctant Traveller.

He said he wanted to “question things more” and referred to being Prince of Wales and king as a “job” and said he takes his “roles” and “responsibilities” seriously but it was important “you don’t feel they own you – you have to own them”.

Earlier this year, William gave a speech at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco, calling for urgent collective action to combat rising sea temperatures, plastic pollution, and overfishing.

In 2022, the King missed the COP27 summit in Egypt, the first climate change summit of his reign, following advice from the Government while Liz Truss was prime minister, despite it being widely reported he had hoped to attend in person.

Charles, who also attended in 2015 and 2021, went on to fly to Dubai for COP28 in 2023, where he gave the opening address to world leaders.

He warned delegates that the world remains “dreadfully far off track” in key climate targets and called for meaningful change.

But he missed COP29 in Azerbaijan in 2024 after being diagnosed with cancer earlier that year.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain would be working to push for greater action on clean energy and forests at COP30.

The “incredible coalition” assembled at the museum “speaks to the fact that in their workplaces, in their schools, in their communities, in their places of worship, people up and down Britain know that tackling the climate and nature crisis is the right thing to do for today’s generations and future generations,” he said.

He added: “Britain will be working with those other countries at COP30 and our friends from Brazil to push for greater global action on issues from clean energy and finance to forests and adaptation.

“Together let’s carry Britain’s call for climate action and leadership to Belem and beyond it.”