He went barefoot for a game of volleyball, taking a few tumbles onto the sand of Rio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana beach.
A few days later, Prince William was standing before world leaders in the heart of the Amazon. He talked of how they were coming together at a “moment that demands courage, co-operation and unwavering commitment to our planet’s future.”
William’s speech on behalf of the U.K. government to leaders gathered for the COP30 summit also acknowledged a family legacy and personal commitment to tackling the climate crisis.
“I have long believed in the power of urgent optimism: the conviction that, even in the face of daunting challenges, we have the ingenuity and determination to make a difference and to do so now,” William told the gathering in Belém.
“I grew up with my father, the King, talking about the power of nature and the importance of harmony in the natural world — a subject he has championed for over five decades. It is a privilege to also represent him here today, as well as everyone else who has championed this cause, for so many years.”
That speech in Belém — and William’s time earlier in Rio, for this year’s awarding of his Earthshot climate prizes — reflected both the personal and public sides of an heir to the throne coming under increasing focus as the monarchy faces its own pressures and recent scandal.
William is, says Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris, putting himself in a position to carry on his father’s environmental work.
“He doesn’t yet have those responsibilities and expectations as a constitutional monarch,” she said.
The emphasis on continuity, however, comes at a time of great scrutiny of William, particularly given the scandals surrounding his uncle Andrew, and the health of King Charles, Harris said. He noted, for example, a recent BBC podcast with the title: “Can William save the planet and the monarchy after the ‘Andrew problem?’”
“That’s a tremendous amount of pressure, even if that [podcast] headline is to bring in listeners,” said Harris.
It’s a bit like how Queen Victoria, who came to the throne in 1837, “was seen as a breath of fresh air when she had some scandalous uncles,” Harris said.
“Prince William is not only taking on causes that are very relevant to 21st-century audiences around the world, but in many ways he’s tasked with making the monarchy respectable again after some of these recent scandals.”
That’s in addition to personal challenges William faces, including his estrangement from his younger brother, Prince Harry, and the cancer diagnoses last year for both his father and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.
While he was in Rio, William was also presented with a key to the city and visited the Maracanã soccer stadium, where he helped lead training drills with local children.
By all appearances, he was revelling in his time there.
“I think that one of the things that we’re seeing is that last year he was not a happy man, and that fed over into his confidence, his public appearances, everything like that,” Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scholar and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in southwestern England, said in an interview.
“I think that a year on from the Princess of Wales’s emergence at the end of her treatment, we are now seeing a man who is very much the active Prince of Wales, the heir apparent.”
It’s clear, Rowbotham said, that William is working closely with his father “in an official, a monarchic way.”
But William was evidently also thinking of his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, during his time in Rio, as he posed in the same spot she did 34 years ago, in front of the famed Christ the Redeemer statue.
“I think he always likes to do something that will pay tribute to his mother,” said Rowbotham.
“To be fair, both his parents were genuine activists in their ways and I think in many ways, Diana learned that from Charles, but she then took her own line.
“But by standing [in front of the statue] as he did, William was making sure that he was seen not just as his father’s son, but also his mother’s son.”
While William was in South America, he also took a moment to tap into North American pop culture. He did a video chat with Robert Irwin, an Australian conservationist and Earthshot ambassador, to urge him on as he competes in the ABC television reality competition Dancing with the Stars.
“We’re missing you,” William told Irwin, before joking, “Whilst your twinkle toes are going off elsewhere, I need you down here.”
In such an appearance, William is offering “a more relaxed approach to engaging with the public,” Harris said, noting also his recent appearance with Canadian comedian Eugene Levy in an episode of his Apple TV+ show, The Reluctant Traveler.
“So he’s trying to find new ways to connect to the public, new ways to connect with a younger generation that perhaps isn’t as engaged with royal traditions or royal history,” Harris said.
Still, there could be a delicate balance for William to strike.
“I think it’s a fine line of just ensuring that the younger generation of the Royal Family is relevant in the public eye, but isn’t seen as interchangeable with celebrities themselves, as they have a very different role,” said Harris.
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