Prince William was snapped in east London earlier today as he visited an Earthshot Prize winning company in the capital – and made staff laugh as he cracked jokes.
The Prince of Wales, 40, set up the Earthshot Prize in 2020 in a bid to find ‘extraordinary solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges’.
Among the winners was Notpla in Hackney Wick, which he visited to see how scooping £1 million in prize money has helped the company, which is now working with several huge brands across the UK, including home delivery service Just Eat.
The London-based start-up, which creates plastic-free consumer packaging products from seaweed and plants, took top honours in the ‘Build a Waste-Free World’ category in November.
Its innovations include replacing plastic-lined takeaway boxes – two billion of which are used every year in Europe – and other throw-away plastic like cutlery.
Prince William, pictured during a visit to Earthshot Prize winner and sustainable packaging start-up, Notpla in east London today
For his appearance, the royal donned a trademark look, wearing a two-piece navy suit with an open-necked pale blue shirt.
During his visit, Prince William undertook a tour of the headquarters with Notpla co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier.
As well as seeing the company’s portfolio of products, the royal was shown how the brand is working towards minimising the use of single-use plastics.
He even got stuck into the action, visiting the company’s in-house laboratory, where he tried his hand at creating the company’s flagship ‘Notpla Rigid material’, which is made from what is left over from the seaweed production, enabling a new circular way of using the entire raw product.
Notpla Rigid will be used in many products, from luxury packaging boxes to disposable cutlery, and will go onto production next month.
At one point during the engagement, he told research engineer Callum Wardle: ‘It is brilliant to see the advances you’re making already. That’s really exciting.’
The Prince then posed for photographs with staff at the company, making them laugh as he cracked a joke.
When the photographer told everyone to ‘look happier’, William joked: ‘You’re away from your desks!’
While posing for photos, the staff were told to look happier by the photographer, to which Will joked, ‘you’re away from your desks!’
The eco-conscious royal appeared to be enjoying himself as he learnt about the company’s innovations (pictured L-R: Prince William and Notpla co-founder Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez)
GETTING STUCK IN: William dons a lab coat as he takes to Notpla’s laboratory during today’s appearance at the company’s headquarters
Since winning the Earthshot Prize, Notpla has increased its team by 10 people, and invested in new machinery for research and development.
Prince William’s appearance today followed last week’s release of a video that left some royal watchers swooning.
The six-minute clip – which was uploaded on the Prince and Princess of Wales‘ YouTube account – showed William rowing with the Navy.
It opens with the royal arriving at Dorney Lake in Windsor to meet members of the HMS Oardacious.
During his appointment, the royal (pictured, right) did a tour of the company with co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez (pictured, left), and Pierre Paslier (centre)
The royal learnt about how the company is working to replace single-use plastics with its innovative new packaging (pictured L-R: co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier, and Prince William)
Notpla’s innovations include replacing plastic-lined takeaway boxes and plastic cutlery (pictured L-R: Notpla co-founder Pierre Paslier and Prince William)
The prince (pictured, centre) spoke with staff at Notpla during his visit today, which followed the company’s Earthshot victory last November
The father-of-three met with Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs and his team who are crossing the Atlantic in their new eco-friendly boat this December.
After being introduced to the group, Prince William happily got stuck into some rowing – but joked he may accidentally ‘slap oars’ with one of the professionals.
His appearance is part of an ongoing campaign, founded in 2019, to provide mental health support to those working in submarines.
For the engagement, William dressed in a blue Royal Navy hoodie, black shorts and donned a pair of sunglasses.
Once they’d completed a few laps of the lake, the group then returned to Eton College’s Rowing Club where they discussed their coping methods at work.
Since winning £1 million in prize money last year, Notpla has been able to scale up its operations (pictured: Prince William (centre) speaks with Notpla co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez (left) and Pierre Paslier (right) as he tours the company’s premises)
Prince William (pictured in east London today) set up the Earthshot Prize in 2020 in a bid to find ‘extraordinary solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges’
Although the crew’s mental health 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 amassed a number of gushing 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,’ a third gushed.
‘Prince William is so handsome,’ a fourth replied.
