The Prince of Wales has been given the keys to the city of Rio
de Janeiro as his visit to Brazil gets under way.
Prince William was presented with the symbolic golden key by
Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, as he touched down in the country for a
stay that will see him hand out the Earthshot Prizes for 2025 and
represent King Charles.
Rio is hosting this year’s Earthshot and the stand out moment of
William’s Brazil trip will be the glittering awards ceremony which
will feature performances from Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes who
will walk the green carpet alongside the future king.
William will then hand out five prizes of £1 million each to
five projects focused on protecting the planet and encouraging
sustainability.
The Brazil visit began with William heading to Sugarloaf
Mountain, one of the most famous parts of Rio, where he was greeted
by Mayor Paes. The Prince made like every other tourist to Rio and
headed up the mountain by cable car to enjoy some of its
spectacular views.
The meeting with Rio’s mayor also touched on some of the wider
aspects of this high profile trip as the Prince of Wales discussed
the ongoing ties between the UK and Brazil which this year mark 200
years of mutual support across key areas, including the
environment, between the two countries.
And William made the most of his bird’s eye view of Rio by
enjoying it with some of those who had come along to see him. The
first royal walkabout of his trip to Rio took place there.
The visit to Brazil is focused on a wide range of environmental
issues and the next stop was a leadership conference for young
people from Brazil and beyond who are involved in Generation
Earthshot. The conference aims to give the 75 people involved
climate leadership skills to take forward and, as it’s William, it
also involved football.
The conference took place at the iconic Maracanã stadium and one of
those hosting and coaching was legendary Brazil player, Cafu, who
won the World Cup twice for his country. William was keen to talk
about climate issues and to take to the pitch – he also took a few
shots at goal during his time at the Maracanã.
Members of the Mini COP programme, for 11-16 year olds, also
took part in the conference.
After his time in Rio and the Earthshot Prize, Prince William
will head to Belem where he will represent King Charles at the
COP30 Heads of State summit.
And just to prove he’s not totally obsessed with football,
William’s last event of the day took him to the Copacabana beach
where he tried out beach volleyball.
The Prince of Wales met up with Olympian Carol Solberg who runs
a school aiming to change the lives of disadvantaged children
through sport.
He also met first responders who keep the millions of visitors
to the beach every year safe as well as those working to protect
its natural environment.
But William being William it was the sport that kept him most
interested and he took part in an energetic volleyball match to
round off the start of a tour weighted with expectation.
