A gushing Hannah Waddingham has described Prince William as a ‘glorious gentleman’ and the ‘beating heart’ of the Earthshot Prize.
Describing their meeting last year at the Earthshot Prize Awards in Singapore as ‘absolutely thrilling’, Ted Lasso actress Hannah, 50, shared a snippet of her conversation with the heir-to-the-throne.
In an interview with Parade Magazine, the actress revealed she and her co-presenter Sterling K. Brown approached the Prince of Wales, 42, at the awards and told him he was ‘a cut above the rest’.
Explaining her reasoning, Hannah said: ‘He has created the Earthshot organisation and he isn’t a poster boy for it.
‘It was very obvious from being out there that he is the beating heart and he really does care.’
She added: ‘That man is passionate about the environment and I was very proud to be there being a kind of figurehead for his organisation.’
Her interview comes less than a week after she played darts with Prince William to promote his new environmental documentary, The Earthshot Report, shown on BBC1 on Saturday evening.
The nine-minute sketch was filmed at Alexandra Palace in north London and, according to body language expert Judi James, William is equally in awe of Hannah as she is of him.
Hannah Waddingham (left) described her meeting with Prince William last year at the Earthshot Prize Awards in Singapore as ‘absolutely thrilling’
The actress revealed she and her co-presenter Sterling K. Brown (right) approached the Prince of Wales, 42, at the awards and told him he was ‘a cut above the rest’
She added: ‘That man is passionate about the environment and I was very proud to be there being a kind of figurehead for his organisation’
Speaking to FEMAIL, Judi told how William displayed ‘sweet gestures’, signalling a genuine friendship between the pair.
Judi said: ‘It’s rather sweet to see William completely over-powered in his performance here by the assertive, statuesque and funny Hannah Waddingham, who reduces him to a state of chuckling fan.
‘William’s famously competitive traits shine through at the beginning as he holds the darts like a pro, waving them as he talks to Hannah in a confident gesture that implies “Just watch this!”‘
‘He throws the dart as she speaks, and his clamped-lip expression suggests intention and focus on getting a bullseye.
‘There is a small moment when there is a hint from William’s body language that suggests he might actually be going to blag it and pretend the dart hit home for the video.
‘But as Hannah joins in, he’s left with no option but to let out an embarrassed gasp as it is revealed to be lying on the floor.’
Body language expert Judi James said Prince William was like a ‘playful schoolboy’ when playing darts with Hannah Waddingham (pictured)
During the friendly game, Prince William revealed that he talks to his children all the time about the environment and says getting them out playing in nature is a priority.
When chatting to William, Hannah asked him about his ‘three little people’ and he revealed the importance of getting Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, out in nature.
William said: ‘I talk to my children all the time about it and it’s important that they see, touch, feel and go into nature.
‘It’s very hard for people to understand what is the point in protecting it if you never use it and it’s really important that we get people out into nature because then they will value it.
‘We can’t take for granted what we have, we have to protect it and we have to look after it, we have to think about it in a way that is sustainable and beneficial for all of us.’
Dressed in plastic-free trainers by the British brand HEVEA and a casual blue jumper, the Prince appeared relaxed as he threw darts with Waddingham, 50, and sipped a pint of cider at the bar.
Indeed, the game appeared to bring back memories of his time as a student at St Andrews University, where he has previously admitted to being a darts regular.
‘Don’t let us start a drinking game, we’ll be here all day doing that as well,’ joked William.
In the video, Waddingham also took time to quiz the Prince about his sustainability prize.
‘What on earth is your obsession with seaweed all about?’ she asked, leading William to talk about the prize winner Notpla, which makes food packaging from plants and seaweed.
The expert said that the father-of-three showed his ‘famously competitive’ side during the game at Alexandra Palace
James said that William showed signs of ‘genuine pleasure’, including ‘playful, schoolboy-sounding chuckles and giggles’
The Prince also explained how the prize was about ‘trying to stay positive about it [climate change] rather than negative’.
‘That’s where the [idea for the] award ceremony came from, to celebrate talent and solutions, rather than tell people, “Don’t do this or don’t do that.”
The father of three added: ‘You have to be so careful because there’s been a lot of that.’
During the nine-minute sketch, which was filmed at Alexandra Palace, the royal missed the dart board entirely.
‘Cut!’ the Prince joked, while Waddingham said to the cameras: ‘Can we get a close-up on this?’
Affectionately known as Ally Pally, the north-London venue staged the first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in 2021, with Boston hosting the following year; Singapore, co-hosted by Waddingham, in 2023 and last month it was Cape Town’s turn.
William founded the prize to recognise and scale up ideas to help ‘repair’ the planet, with five winning finalists each awarded £1 million to develop their ideas further.
Awards are presented in five categories, or Earthshots – Protect and restore nature; clean our air, revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.
The nine-minute sketch was filmed last week at Alexandra Palace in north London to promote Prince William’s new environmental documentary, The Earthshot Report
During the darts match, William told the actress about his goals for the prize: ‘It took a long time, I wasn’t sure how to create and galvanise action, the element of trying to stay positive about everything rather than negative was really important.
‘So that’s where the awards ceremony came from, which was to celebrate talent and solutions, rather than tell people ‘don’t do this and don’t do that’, you have to be so careful.
‘I don’t want to preach, I want to find solutions because that’s always healthier for everyone.’
It comes after the Prince said he hopes his children are ‘proud’ of his Earthshot Prize ahead of the glitzy environmental awards ceremony in Cape Town last month.
The royal said he hoped Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis and his wife the Princess of Wales would be watching back home.
William was speaking to the BBC and Sky News as he prepared to host his fourth annual Earthshot Awards designed to highlight and scale up the best solutions on the planet to the current environmental crisis.
He also said Kate was ‘doing really well, paying tribute to how she had been ‘amazing’ during her tough year of cancer treatment.
‘She’s doing really well thanks. And… hopefully she is watching tonight. So cheering me on. She’s been she’s been amazing this whole this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success,’ he said.
Pictured: Hannah Waddingham walking with the Prince of Wales as he arrives for the 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony, at The Theatre at Mediacorp, Singapore
William said that he and his family, like so many, have conversations about trying to ‘do what they can’ at home.
The prince said: ‘Yeah, well, you know, every family tries to do what they can to sort of help with the environment.
‘We go through all the basics of recycling and making sure we minimise water use and turning off lights when we leave the house and stuff like that.’
He added: ‘I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can. ‘
‘The Earthshot Prize has got to be a bit more global than that. We are trying to do big scale ambition and big scale business to tackle some of the solutions.’
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