Prince William and Kate have arrived in Boston at Logan Airport to begin their three-day royal visit in and around the Massachusetts capital that culminates in the 2022 Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony.
The Earthshot Prize, inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” speech, is an ambitious global environmental prize that aims to discover, celebrate and scale the best solutions to help repair the planet.
Boston was announced as the site of the second annual Earthshot awards in early July. The ceremony will be held Friday at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway.
The royal couple will be greeted at Logan Airport by Gov. Charlie Baker Wednesday afternoon. They will then head to City Hall to meet with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry before addressing the crowd expected to gather on City Hall Plaza.The public is welcome to attend the City Hall Plaza event.
“To me, this is the perfect place. It shows that they really respect who we are. We’re a learned place. We are a place that likes to have facts, and we like the environment,” said Dr. Kathryn Lamontagne, a Boston University lecturer in social sciences who formerly worked at Buckingham Palace.
“The public, when they do come, they’ll have an opportunity to hear them speak. They’ll have an opportunity to see them. They’ll be able to get close,” said Eamon Shelton, Boston’s commissioner of property management.
William and Kate will make a number of other appearances during their trip, including visits to Greentown Labs in Somerville, the Chelsea nonprofit organization Roca, the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
They will be accompanied by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only surviving child of John F. Kennedy, during their visit to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
Boston police will be out in force during the royal visit, but security is expected to go way beyond what the public is used to in the city.
“With the royals coming, it also involves the intelligence community on a global scale,” said Todd McGhee, a retired Massachusetts State Police trooper who is now managing partner of Protecting the Homeland Innovations.
The security demands will be even greater on Friday, when President Joe Biden will arrive in Boston to attend a reception for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The White House has not confirmed reports that Biden might meet with the prince and princess while he is in the city, or whether the president will attend the Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony.
Catherine, Princess of Wales — widely known as Kate Middleton — will be among the star-studded list of presenters for this year’s Earthshot Prize winners. William, the Prince of Wales, will deliver remarks at the end of the awards ceremony.
During the awards ceremony, five Earthshot Prize winners will be selected from a field of 15 finalists — three each in the following five categories: protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world and fix our climate.
The five Earthshot winners will receive 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) in prize money while all 15 finalists also receive help in expanding their projects to meet global demand.
The trip to Boston will mark the first time William and Kate have visited the United States since 2014, when Kate was still the Duchess of Cambridge.
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