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Prince William was pictured in east London earlier today as he visited an Earthshot award-winning business in the capital – and made staff laugh with jokes.
The Prince of Wales, 40, created the Earthshot Prize in 2020 with the aim of finding “extraordinary solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges”.
Among the winners was Notpla in Hackney Wick, which he visited to see how the £1million win has helped the business, which now works with several top brands across the UK, including the service Just Eat home delivery service.
The London-based start-up, which creates plastic-free consumer packaging from seaweed and plants, won top honors in the “Build a Waste-Free World” category in November.
Its innovations include replacing plastic-lined take-out boxes – two billion of which are used every year in Europe – and other disposable plastics like cutlery.
Prince William, pictured during a visit to Earthshot award winner and sustainable packaging start-up, Notpla, in east London today
For his appearance, the royal donned a branded look, wearing a two-piece navy suit with an open-necked pale blue shirt.
During his visit, Prince William took a tour of the head office with Notpla co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier.
As well as seeing the company’s product portfolio, the royal got to see how the brand is working to minimize the use of single-use plastics.
He even got in on the action by visiting the company’s in-house lab, where he tried his hand at creating the company’s flagship product, “Notpla Rigid Rigid Material”, from seaweed. .
At one point during the engagement, he told research engineer Callum Wardle: “It’s great to see the progress you’re already making. It’s really exciting.
The prince then posed for photos with company staff, making them laugh as he cracked a joke.
When the photographer told everyone to “look happier,” William joked, “You’re not at your desk!”
Since winning the Earthshot award, Notpla has increased its team by 10 people and invested in new machines for research and development.
While posing for photos, the photographer told the staff to look happier, to which Will joked, “you’re not at your desk!”
Upon his appointment, the royal (pictured, right) was given a company tour with co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez (pictured, left) and Pierre Paslier (centre)
The royal learned how the company was working to replace single-use plastics with its innovative new packaging (LR photo: co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier, and Prince William)
Prince William’s appearance today follows the release of a video last week that left some royal watchers swooning.
The six-minute clip – which was uploaded to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ YouTube account – showed William rowing with the Navy.
It opens with the Royal Family arriving at Lake Dorney in Windsor to meet members of HMS Oardacious.
The father-of-three met Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs and his team crossing the Atlantic in their new eco-friendly boat in December.
After being introduced to the group, Prince William happily got stuck rowing – but joked he might accidentally ‘snap oars’ with one of the professionals.
His appearance is part of an ongoing campaign, founded in 2019, to provide mental health support to people working on submarines.
For the engagement, William dressed in a Royal Navy blue hoodie, black shorts and donned a pair of sunglasses.
Once they had completed a few laps of the lake, the group then returned to the Eton College Rowing Club where they discussed their methods of adjusting to the job.
Since winning £1million in prize money last year, Notpla has been able to expand its operations (pictured: Prince William (centre) talks to Notpla co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez (left ) and Pierre Paslier (on the right) as he visits the company’s premises)
Prince William (pictured in east London today) created the Earthshot Prize in 2020 with the aim of finding ‘extraordinary solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges’
Although the mental health of the crew was the topic of conversation, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram followers were distracted by William’s good looks.
The clip of William rowing garnered a number of enthusiastic comments from fans on Instagram. One wrote: “Prince William’s title should be Prince of Hotness.”
Another added: ‘Couldn’t help but think, ‘hello daddy long legs!’
“Ah yes, His Royal Hotness does it again,” gushed a third.
“Prince William is so handsome,” replied a fourth.
Prince William cracks jokes as he visits Earthshot Prize winner in London