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The Princess Goes Green for Earthshot Prize Awards

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The Princess Goes Green for Earthshot Prize Awards

The Princess of Wales chose a vivid green gown by Solace London for tonight’s Earthshot Prize Awards. 

She accessorized with glittering emeralds and diamonds.

Richard Palmer of The Express shared a video of the couple arriving.  

A wave from the Princess. 

The royal couple was the last to arrive, and we’ll return to them shortly. But first, a look at some of the celebrities as they walked the green carpet. (That is the same green carpet used last year in London.) Below is broadcaster, podcaster, and television presenter Clara Amfo. She is returning as cohost of the awards.

Ms. Amfo’s cohost, actor, producer, and director Daniel Dae Kim.

Actor and comedian Catherine O’Hara is one of tonight’s award presenters.

Also presenting an award, actor Rami Malek.

More about Mr. Malek’s involvement from this People article. 

Malek revealed Prince William first raised the subject of the Earthshot Prize with him at a movie premiere.

“We first broached the subject at the Bond premiere. I was just so impressed with the spirit he put forward,” he tells PEOPLE on the green carpet. “And speaking with Sir David Attenborough and [William’s] affinity for the Moonshot and what President Kennedy did. I grew up being very inspired by President Kennedy, so we had a discussion about that.”

“And here we are in a place that is far beyond that and I applaud Prince William and everyone who can come together to find innovative solutions to help resolve this global crisis because it can be resolved when we all put our minds together,” he says

David Beckham will be presenting an award as well. 

Actor Shailene Woodley is another presenter. 

Performers at tonight’s event include Ellie Goulding.

Sisters Chloe x Halle. 

Annie Lennox. 

Billie Eilish performed remotely, accompanied by her brother and creative partner, FINNEAS. 

Back to the royals, here you see Prince William buttoning his jacket (black velvet, a piece he has worn previously) just as he gets out of the vehicle, in an image shared by longtime WKW friend Liana.

And this photo from Liana shows the royals as they approach the green carpet.

Below, the couple waving to the crowds, faith Earthshot Prize CEO Hannah Jones on the left.

Chatting with Ms. Jones.

A quick video as they posed for photographers. 

If wondering what it looks like for the Prince and Princess, this gives you an idea of what they see.

And here is a photo. 

The duo spoke with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

Then it was time to head inside.

The couple was led to their seats. 

You can hear applause for the couple in this quick video. 

Tonight’s awards carried some special planning and requests. More from The Daily Mail.

Even before the guests arrive at the gala they will have been given a very green dose of eco-friendly advice and rules to follow, with attendees encouraged to ‘consider their clothing’ for the occasion and opt for ensembles that can be re-used, or have already been purchased second-hand. 

Travel plans for guests have also been given environmental updates: all transportation being used with Boston is electric or hybrid and any ‘unavoidable’ flights that were taken have been ‘recorded and the CO2e impacts were calculated and balanced’. 

Emily Nash of Hello shared a photo of the stage.

Here is some background on how the look for the stage was achieved via this Emily Nash Hello story. 

All the flowers have been grown within 100 miles of the MGM music hall where the show will take place and all the plants will be donated to local community-based organisations afterwards.

The show lighting will be LED battery-operated and the same green carpet used for last Year’s ceremony at Alexandra Palace will be used in Boston. Makeup used will be mostly vegan and certified cruelty-free, the food served will all be plant-based and there will be no single-use plastics.

Now, a brief refresher on tonight’s awards:

  • Five awards of £1 million are made.  
  • The five winners are chosen from a group of 15 finalists. 
  • There is one award for each of these five categories.
    • Protect and Restore Nature
    • Clean Our Air
    • Revive Our Ocean
    • Build a Waste-Free World
    • Fix Our Climate

Tonight’s program included taped remarks by natural historian and member of the Earthshot Prize Council, Sir David Attenborough. Cate Blanchett narrated part of the ceremony looking back at the 2021 winners. The Prince of Wales delivered remarks at the end of the ceremony. Here you see the five winners in a graphic released by the Earthshot organization.

The Princess of Wales presented the award in the Clean Our Air category to an organization based in Kenya, Mukuru Clean Stoves. The entity is described as “a social enterprise that designs and produces clean, reliable, and affordable cook stoves for low-income households in urban slums, and helping to provide safer ways of cooking. Below, the Princess’s remarks.  

To breathe clean air is something so many of us take for granted. But sadly for millions of people around the world, it is not a given. From smog enveloping cities to the impact seen in nature, air pollution poses a threat that knows no borders. heartbreakingly over 250 million children under the age of five are breathing polluted air every single day.

And this fact is even harder to hear because we know the significant impact pollution has on our lifelong development. But there are reasons to be hopeful. And I’m delighted to see the work of our three finalists and their solutions to clean our air.

More on the other winners from this Hello story. 

  • Actress Catherine O’Hara presented the Protect and Restore Nature award to Kheyti, a pioneering solution for Indian smallholder farmers to reduce costs, increase yields and protect livelihoods in a country on the frontlines of climate change.
  • The Revive our Oceans award was given by Shailene Woodley to Australia’s Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef, an inspiring women-led program that combines 60,000 years of indigenous knowledge with digital technologies to protect land and sea.
  • David Beckham presented the Build a Waste-free World award to Notpla, a British-based startup that is creating an alternative to plastic packaging from seaweed and has already made more than 1 million takeaway food boxes.
  • Oscar winner Rami Malek also took to the stage to give Oman-based organization 44.01 the Fix our Climate award. 44.01 was created by childhood friends who have developed an innovative technique to turn CO2 into rock, and permanently store it underground.

From Prince William’s remarks. 

I believe that the Earthshot solutions you have seen this evening prove we can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges. And by supporting and scaling them we can change our future. Alongside tonight’s winners and finalists, and those to be discovered over the years to come, it’s my hope the Earthshot legacy will continue to grow, helping our communities and our planet to thrive.

A quick video of the winners via the Earthshot Prize.

After the ceremony, guests and participants spent time together. Hello offers more in this story.

Following the success of the ceremony, guests mingled with the royal couple with former footballer David breaking protocol and leaning in to give Princess Kate a kiss on the cheek.

Other pictures saw William and Kate enjoying a laugh with singer Chloe and Halle Bailey, and their good friend Ellie Goulding, who sang at their wedding in 2011.

The royals were greeted by Governor Charlie Baker and his wife, Lauren.

The Prince and Princess with Ellie Goulding. Some may recall she performed at their wedding reception.

As for her participation in the awards, Ms. Goulding said, “I am a big supporter of the Prince of Wales’ passion for the environment and share in The Earthshot Prize’s mission to protect and restore our planet. I am particularly excited for viewers around the world to learn about the innovative solutions presented by this year’s cohort of Finalists.” 

A video as the Prince and Princess left tonight’s event. 

Here is information on how to watch the awards.

  • UK viewing: The ceremony will air on BBC One on Sunday, December 4 at 5pm GMT and will begin streaming from the Earthshot Prize YouTube channel on Monday, December 5.
  • US viewing: The program will begin streaming at 2pm ET on Monday, December 5, on PBS.org and the PBS App and at 8pm ET on the PBS YouTube channel. PBS will also broadcast the event on Wednesday, December 14 at 8pm ET (check local listings).

Now for our look at what the Princess wore for tonight’s awards ceremony. 

She was in the Sabina dress by Solace London, but she doesn’t own the piece. Instead, the Princess rented the Sabina from HURR, where rental prices for the dress start at just £74, about $90. HURR is a UK-based platform offering rentals of upscale designs. The company ships within the UK, but I don’t know about shipping to other countries. Thank you to UFO No More for their ID work on this item.  

The Sabina showcases a fitted design with an off-the-shoulder neckline, long sleeves, deep back slit, and a belt. It is described as having a body-conscious fit” that is “self-lined to sculpt the body.” The material is described as a stretch crepe. If it has the same fabric composition as the white version of the dress, it is 95% polyester and 5% elastane. (I could not locate fabric content on the HURR and Solace sites but did find information at Revolve, which carries the white Sabina.) In the US, Rent The Runway stocks the brand, but I did not see the Sabina dress listed. The dress can also be purchased from Solace ($500). 

The Princess debuted a major new piece of jewelry tonight, Queen Mary’s Emerald Choker. More about the piece from Lauren at The Court Jeweller: 

The necklace, though, comes straight from the Buckingham Palace vaults. It’s part of the Delhi Durbar Parure, a set of jewels collected by Queen Mary at the time of the Delhi Durbar in December 1911. You can read about all of the pieces from the suite in our extensive article here. 

From Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault. 

The piece passed to the Queen in 1953, but she doesn’t wear chokers often. So she loaned it to the Princess of Wales, who made it one of her signature jewels. Diana memorably wore it as a bandeau across her forehead, and wore it in necklace form both during and after her marriage. Since it was a lifetime loan, it returned to the Queen after Diana’s death, and has since been exhibited at Buckingham Palace with other pieces of the Queen’s jewelry.

Perhaps the most notable occasion the choker was worn was during a 1985 trip to Melbourne when Diana famously accessorized her David and Elizabeth Emanuel gown by wearing the choker as a bandeau. 
Embed from Getty Images

Below, a photo from an exhibit that was part of the summer opening at Buckingham Palace in 2006. The exhibit celebrated Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s 80th birthday, and “featured the largest ever exhibition of Her Majesty’s evening dresses and personal jewellery,” per the Royal Collection Trust. It included the Vladimir Tiara and the Cambridge Emerald Necklace. At the bottom of this image, you see the choker worn tonight; I used that image in the photo montage above of the piece.

As ever, thank you to Lauren at the Court Jeweller for her insight and knowledge, and thank you to Patricia Treble for her early ID of the choker. 

Another view of the jewelry.

The Princess also wore new (to us, anyway) emerald and diamond earrings tonight. A UFO No More reader suggested they are Asprey’s Emerald and Diamond Halo Earrings Mounted in Platinum, and it sure looks like a match. They showcase four emeralds and 72 diamonds.

It looked like the Princess wore her Gianvito Rossi Rania heels tonight, shown below when worn to the state dinner in late November.

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Miss

Sunday 9th of April 2023

Love the green jewels but the dress makes her look like a walking green screen…

Larissa

Wednesday 28th of December 2022

This dress isn't particularly exciting, and I think that's absolutely fine. The fact that it is rented is much more interesting and relevant than the dress itself. I can imagine that Kate might have been limited by availability on HURR, with only so many evening gowns in her size to choose from and not being able to alter anything. The dress does a good job of not only highlighting one of the companies trying to make the fashion industry more sustainable, but also as a backdrop for those amazing jewels. It's so nice to see long-hidden jewels from the late Queen's collection make a reappearance, and the choker is an inspired choice with this neckline. If I had one small quibble with this outfit, it's that I wish Kate had worn the earrings from the parure instead of a new pair, to really hammer home the secondhand look. But those Asprey earrings are timeless and a dependable addition to Kate's wardrobe – I'm sure we'll see them for plenty of rewears (maybe one day with an emerald-adorned tiara!).

Shirley

Monday 19th of December 2022

Stunning!!! Love the dress, simple lines. I would prefer a more sophisticated shade of green rather than this lime green. Jewelry is beautiful, and I'm so glad to see it, but it seems a bit formal for the simplicity of the dress. Nonetheless, she is beyond stunning.

AMW

Thursday 8th of December 2022

The green gown was absolutely stunning against the ocean blue of the floor during her Earthshot presentation.

MaryH

Wednesday 7th of December 2022

Not surprisingly, this is a "love it or hate it" look. I regret to say that I'm in the latter category. It doesn't work for me at all. Based on their ensembles last year and this year, it strikes me that the Prince and Princess are (understandably) still establishing what they want "their look" to be at this particular event - trying to find that right combination of glamour, royalty, sustainability, formality, and approachability. This time around, William's look is fantastic - much better than last year. As for Catherine, I applaud her for using a rental gown - a fabulous idea. However, the "green screen" color isn't great on her, it's a set up for endless memes, and it's close to the carpet color yet not an exact match, resulting in a strange clash. The choker - totally stunning on its own - seems out of place with this particular dress - the greens of the gown and the jewelry clash, as do the styles - I would love to see the choker with a different gown. Overall, the Boston tour didn't do much for me, wardrobe-wise, but she's had some other knock-out looks lately!

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