Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, at 9.03pm on 21 June 1982. As the eldest son of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge is currently second in line to the throne.
During his early years, the nation saw a well-mannered boy develop into a confident and popular young man. Attending Eton College, he gained A Levels in Geography, Biology and History of Art before achieving a Master of Arts (Honours) in Geography at the University of St Andrews. It was at university he met Catherine Middleton, whom he later married on 29 April 2011. On the day of their marriage, Her Majesty The Queen conferred a dukedom upon Prince William. Today, Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a young family of their own and work tirelessly together to tackle and raise awareness for a range of charitable causes.
The Duke of Cambridge dedicates his time to a range of charitable causes and is actively engaged in many initiatives through the Royal Foundation, a philanthropic organisation he founded alongside The Duchess of Cambridge.
Helping to Save the Planet
Launched by The Duke of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global prize for the environment in history. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which aimed to put man on the moon, The Earthshot Prize is focused on repairing the planet and conserving the environment for future generations. The Prize is comprised of five ‘Earthshots’, which serve as five core goals: protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world, and fix our climate.
Every year from 2021 until 2030, The Duke of Cambridge will work closely with The Earthshot Prize Council to award The Earthshot Prize to five winners. The winners could include individuals, teams, cities or countries. They could be scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks or businesses. The Earthshot Prize ultimately seeks to reward and scale up the solutions, people and organisations with the greatest potential to change the future of our natural world for the better.
Such an ambitious goal of repairing the planet by 2030 requires great unity as well as backing and who better to serve alongside The Duke of Cambridge as an ambassador than Sir David Attenborough? The renowned broadcaster and naturalist strongly believes that we need to act now to tackle pressing environmental issues and preserve the health of our planet for future generations.
“The earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve. People can achieve great things. The next ten years present us with one of our greatest tests – a decade of action to repair the Earth”
The Duke of Cambridge
Changing the Conversation on Mental Health
In 2017, The Duke of Cambridge, along with his wife and brother, Prince Harry, launched the Heads Together mental health campaign in coalition with eight mental health charities. The goal of the campaign is to address the stigma attached to mental health issues and provide help to anyone struggling with these issues. The coalition of charities involved in the initiative include the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Best Beginnings, CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably, Mind, Place2Be, The Mix, YoungMinds, and Contact, a military mental health coalition.
Heads Together was chosen to be the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon Charity of the Year and, in 2019, the initiative partnered with The Football Association (The FA), where The Duke of Cambridge serves as President, to launch the Heads Up campaign. It is a continuation of the Heads Together campaign and mission but using football – a sport adored by millions across the globe – as a vehicle through which we can change the conversation on mental health.
“Practically everything in my charitable life, in the end, is to do with mental health, whether it be homelessness, veterans’ welfare, my wife and the work she is doing on addiction; so much of what we do comes back to mental health.”
The Duke of Cambridge