The Prince and Princess of Wales are to end their three-day trip to Boston on a high note, after landing amidst a row of racism at a palace and then being caught off guard by a trailer for the documentary of the Sussex.
A meeting with Joe Biden and a star-studded awards ceremony for Prince William’s Earthshot Environmental Prize were scheduled to cap off what could be described as a bumpy few days.
On Friday evening, William met the US President, shaking hands and chatting near the John F Kennedy Memorial Library and Museum. AP media reported that Biden joked that William only wore a suit instead of a winter coat in cold weather, asking, “Where’s your top?”
William replied: “Mr. President, nice to see you again.”
The Prince of Wales also met Caroline Kennedy, the late President’s daughter, and honored “the man who inspired our mission” with his 1962 moon speech that set the United States on the path to achieving moon. The Royal Family Award is designed to recognize a similar level of innovation.

The Earthshot ceremony later on Friday, where Billie Eilish will lead a lineup including Annie Lennox, Ellie Goulding and Beyoncé’s proteges Chloe x Halle performing at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, will cap the Welshman’s first visit to the United States in eight years.
Headlines and TV bulletins, however, inevitably focused on the royal racism row that engulfed William’s godmother, former lady-in-waiting Susan Hussey, which again resulted in the monarchy being accused of to be institutionally racist, and on this Sussex trailer.
William and Kate were in the air en route to Boston as Lady Hussey stepped down from her honorary role after what Buckingham Palace described as ‘unacceptable and deeply regrettable’ remarks when asking the charity’s founder black charity Ngozi Fulani where she “really came from” at a reception at the palace.
Then, on their second day in the US, came the online release of the minute-long teaser of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s upcoming Netflix docuseries, complete with photos of Meghan seemingly in tears and a Kate looking thunderous.
For the Welsh part, a Kensington Palace spokesman reiterated comments made before the visit that the couple would not be ‘distracted’ by other matters this week, and their aim was to meet with communities and residents of Boston.
But reports from those on the ground with the couple indicated that it could have been a challenge. The Times suggested the Sussexes had “deliberately torpedoed” the visit, saying the mood within the Wales camp was one of “resignation, even amusement, rather than anger”. The Mail proclaimed it a “declaration of war” by the Sussexes. Sources in Sussex, meanwhile, reportedly kicked Netflix’s provocative timing outright.
While in Boston, where crowds braved the cold and rain to greet them, the prince and princess visited budding environmental tech entrepreneurs at Greentown Labs and a very chilly area of the waterfront of Boston threatened by rising sea levels. They also visited Roca, a nonprofit focused on urban youth violence, and sat on the court during an NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. The Princess also visited the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.
At the Earthshot Awards, now in their second year, 15 finalists are vying for £1million awarded to each of the five category winners. They include a cleaner stove type in Kenya and a bubble barrier in the Netherlands that prevents plastic from entering the oceans. The UK finalists, for the first time, are Notpla, which makes packaging from seaweed and plants, and Low Carbon Materials, which uses plastic waste to make carbon-free concrete blocks.
Harry and Meghan are not expected to attend the Environment Awards on Friday. However, they will fly to the East Coast next week to attend the Ripple of Hope human rights awards in New York on Tuesday, where they are celebrated for speaking out against the alleged racism they have faced within the Royal family.
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