Prince William receives warm welcome as he arrives in Cape Town

The Prince of Wales was welcomed by cheers as he arrived at his first engagement in Cape Town, ahead of Wednesday’s glittering Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony.

The Prince joined 120 young environmentalists from across Africa and Southeast Asia participating in the inaugural Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme.

Throughout the week, the attendees are taking part in immersive masterclasses designed to develop their skills in leadership, storytelling and networking around taking action on climate issues, and opening doors for them to secure future internships and jobs.

The 100 future leaders, aged 18 to 25, were selected from an application pool of nearly 2,000 from 50 of the 54 African nations.

An additional 20 youth leaders have been invited from Asia as a legacy from last year’s Awards in Singapore.

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Prince William spoke to attendees at the Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme in Cape Town, South Africa.

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For his first engagement, the royal was seen chatting to actress Nomzamo Mbatha.

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The Prince of Wales looked delighted to speak with guests.

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Prince William continued chatting outside with the iconic Table Mountain in the background.

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The royal happily stopped for photos. Here, seen with Xolite Mabuza, who runs a business manufacturing handbags that are made from tyres. 

Ahead of the first engagement, Hannah Jones, CEO of the Earthshot Prize, said: “This cohort are all passionate about driving transformative change in climate action and sustainability. They’re going to develop vital skills in authentic leadership in storytelling and networking over four impactful days.

“By the time they go home, we want them to feel that they have wind in their sails and our support to carry on with their mission.” 

It comes after the Earthshot Prize announced a series of programmes designed to inspire and engage children and young people from the age of five to join the movement helping to fix the planet.

The new initiatives includes today’s Climate Youth Leadership Programme the Prince learned about, the Global Climate Accelerator Network (a collective of organisations that help fast-track projects focused on green issues, and Project Slingshot, which will launch in partnership with National Geographic.