Prince William brought the traffic outside Buckingham Palace to a standstill and for a very important reason.
As the final countdown to the Earthshot Prize got underway, the Prince of Wales marked the moment with a cricket match meant to cement ties between the UK and India.
The Earthshot Prize is being held in India for the first time. in November, Prince William will be in Mumbai to hand out five prizes each worth £1 million to five projects working towards sustainability and protecting the environment.
To underline the links between the two countries, Prince William led a cricket match right outside Buckingham Palace.
The heir to the throne took his turn bowling and batting in the match which featured some of the biggest names in cricket.
Joining Prince William to bring Buckingham Palace to a standstill were Joe Root, England Test captain, and Anjinkya Rahane, former Indian cricket captain. Another former India captain, Sourav Ganguly took part along with Nat Scriver Brunt, England Women’s Cricket captain. Players from Tailenders, including Sir Jimmy Anderson, also took part.
The informal match was organised by Backyard Cricket to mark the start of the final countdown to Earthshot.
Prince William seemed in his element as he stepped up to bat with the famous Memorial to Queen Victoria, his great, great, great, great grandmother behind him. The celebrated view of Buckingham Palace was also clear to see as the autumn match got under way.
It’s unlikely that William will be playing cricket in the grounds of Buckingham Palace as it’s been reported that he plans to make his permanent family home at Forest Lodge on the Windsor estate.
The Prince and Princess of Wales moved to the property after several years at Adelaide Cottage at Windsor.
Windsor is better placed for their children’s schools. Prince George began his education at Eton last month while his brother and sister, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte, still attend Lambrook school. Both are close to Windsor.
King Charles decided not to move into Buckingham Palace when he became Monarch, retaining his long held home at Clarence House instead. Recently it was confirmed that The King and Queen won’t move into the Palace once renovations on it are complete.
Buckingham Palace is a working royal residence and continues to be at the heart of the Monarchy.
