Prince William will be stateside next month, returning to the U.S. for the second time in less than a year when he travels to New York City on September 19 for the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit. The event serves as a bit of a warmup to the third annual Earthshot Prize Awards, which this year will be held in Singapore. (Last year, he and wife Princess Catherine traveled to Boston for the awards’ second year; the inaugural event was in London in 2021.)
But, per People, William “likely won’t linger in New York, most probably heading back to the U.K. shortly after his engagements in the United States wrap. That’s because King Charles and Queen Camilla are also heading overseas that week.” Buckingham Palace announced late last week that the King and Queen are headed to France from September 20 to September 22 for a state visit; the couple were originally scheduled to undertake this visit in March, but the trip was postponed because of riots happening across the country at the time.
And, while William isn’t required to be in the U.K. when the King is traveling, he is one of Charles’ Counsellors of State, one of the members of the royal family who can carry out constitutional duties for His Majesty if he is abroad or unwell. “The Counsellor of State position typically belongs to the monarch’s spouse (Queen Camilla), followed by the first four people in the line of succession who are over the age of 21,” People reports. “Currently, those are Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, and Princess Beatrice, Andrew’s eldest daughter.”
Because both Harry and Andrew are no longer working members of the royal family, Parliament felt it best to expand the group to include two additional royals who could be called upon to stand in for the King, so Charles’ two other siblings—Princess Anne and Prince Edward—were tapped for the role, officially made Counsellors of State last December. Both Anne and Edward were previously Counsellors of State for their mother, Queen Elizabeth, before they moved down in the line of succession to the throne.
William was originally slated to attend the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in New York City last September but was forced to cancel after the death of the late Queen on September 8. He still addressed the summit via video: “Although it is the saddest of circumstances that means I cannot join you in person today, I am pleased to join you in video form as you gather in New York for the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit,” he said. “During this time of grief, I take great comfort in your continued enthusiasm, optimism, and commitment to the Earthshot Prize and what we are trying to achieve. Protecting the environment was a cause close to my grandmother’s heart, and I know she would have been delighted to hear about this event and the support you’re all giving our Earthshot finalists, the next generation of environmental pioneers.”
Next month won’t be William’s first visit to the Big Apple—he visited alongside Catherine in 2014, where they met Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and LeBron James at a Brooklyn Nets game, visited the National September 11 Memorial, and attended a gala dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
