William chats about environment over darts and a pint with Hannah Waddingham

The Prince of Wales said he wants to be “positive” and not “preach” as he discussed the goals behind his Earthshot Prize – over a game of darts and a pint.

William ordered his favourite tipple cider when he met with actress Hannah Waddingham at Alexandra Palace, which is staging the darts World Championship this weekend.

In a video released on the prince’s social media channels, he reveals he talks to his children about the importance of nature and stresses how we all should venture into the natural world.

In the footage, where the pair joke about their lack of darts prowess, the future King said: “So I talk to my children the whole time about it, and it’s important that they see, touch, feel and go into nature.

“It’s very hard for anyone to understand what’s the point of protecting it if you never use it. And it’s really important we get people out into nature because then they’ll value it.

“We can’t take for granted what we have. We have to protect it, we have to look after it, we have to think about it in a way that is sustainable and beneficial for all of us.”

Affectionally known as Ally Pally, the north-London venue also staged the first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in 2021, with Boston hosting the following year; Singapore, co-hosted by Waddingham, in 2023 and last month it was Cape Town’s turn.

William founded the prize to recognise and scale up ideas to help “repair” the planet, with five winning finalists each awarded £1 million to develop their ideas further.

Awards are presented in five categories, or Earthshots – Protect and restore nature; clean our air, revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.

Ted Lasso actress Waddingham presents a BBC documentary, screened on Sunday, called The Earthshot Report about William’s ambitious project and he features, introducing the film.

During the darts match, William tells the actress about his goals for the prize: “It took a long time, I wasn’t sure how to create and galvanise action, the element of trying to stay positive about everything rather than negative was really important.

“So that’s where the awards ceremony came from, which was to celebrate talent and solutions, rather than tell people ‘don’t do this and don’t do that’, you have to be so careful.

“I don’t want to preach, I want to find solutions because that’s always healthier for everyone.”