As heir to the throne, Prince William keeps his cool and moves on.
On Tuesday, the Prince of Wales confirmed that Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, has joined the Board of Trustees for the Earthshot Prize, his prestigious environmental award.
Ardern’s latest career move came months after she seemingly distanced herself from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle following the release of their Netflix docuseries Live to Lead in December 2022.
It is an honor to welcome you @Jacindaardern for the @EarthshotPrize Team. Her lifelong commitment to supporting sustainable and eco-friendly solutions, as well as her experience as Prime Minister of New Zealand, will bring a rich impact of new thinking to our mission. W https://t.co/FYlKVqEeRl
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 4, 2023
“Jacinda Ardern has always had a friendly relationship with the Prince and Princess of Wales,” Kinsey Schofield, host of the To Di For Daily podcast, told Fox News Digital. “I think this collaboration makes sense for both of them. Their contributions will have a strong impact in the environmental field.”
“Regarding Harry vs. William, I felt like Ardern drew a line in the sand in December 2022 when she insisted she hadn’t worked with the Sussexes on ‘Live to Lead,'” Schofield added.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex served as executive producers on Live to Lead, a documentary series that premiered on New Year’s Eve. The film came shortly after Harry & Meghan, the couple’s six-part docuseries, which made history as the streaming service’s biggest documentary debut with 81.55 million viewing hours. In it, the couple detailed their struggles with royal life and why they chose to call California home, where they now live.
PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE ‘ARE PLACED DURING CORONATION’, EXPERTS CLAIMS ‘TOO MUCH BITTER’
The former prime minister starred in Live to Lead along with seven other high-profile personalities. However, the 42-year-old issued a statement clarifying that she was unaware of the couple’s involvement in the series when her interview was filmed. Her office issued a statement saying she was approached by the Nelson Mandela Project in 2019 to take part in the film, The Telegraph reported.
“Jacinda Ardern was one of the first figures to publicly distance herself from the project and insisted that she believed she was working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation,” Schofield said.
In January this year, Ardern announced that she was stepping down as Prime Minister after five years in office. Ardern shared that she would not seek re-election, noting that she wanted to spend more time with partner Clarke Gayford and their daughter Neve, who they welcomed in 2018.
Jacinda Ardern was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017 at the age of 37 – making her the world’s youngest female prime minister. (Mark Tantrum/Getty Images)
Ardern was elected prime minister in 2017 at the age of 37, becoming the youngest female prime minister in the world. According to People magazine, Ardern became friends with William during her time as head of Commonwealth country. She also spoke on his behalf at the inaugural Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in September. William, 41, was unable to attend following the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II days earlier.
“It’s good news that William and [his wife] Catherine has recruited high-profile names like the former New Zealand Prime Minister to her cause,” royal commentator and broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti told Fox News Digital.
“The Earthshot Prize is a positive initiative designed to highlight people doing important work for the planet. Therefore, getting big names involved, especially those with leadership experience, is an important way to get more exposure for the cause,” he revealed. “Prince William’s Earthshot Prize is a continuation of the work King Charles has done over the years to promote better stewardship of our planet and our environment. Like his father, Prince William has made environmental work a key focus of his ministry.”
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
The British Prince created the 2020 competition to highlight environmental innovators. The name was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “Moonshot” speech, which urged Americans to reach the moon by the end of the decade. William and his partners have set a similar goal to find solutions to climate change and other environmental problems by 2030.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams called Ardern’s new appointment “highly significant”, one that “will usher in the next phase of her career”. However, royal observers are wondering what her relationship with the Sussexes is like today.
“Their ties with the Sussexes were reportedly strong after touring the South Pacific in 2018, and they are said to have kept in touch later,” Fitzwilliams explained. “Meghan included her in her Vogue ‘Forces for Change’ cover.”
Prince William is seen here with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the RNZAF Air Movements Terminal April 25, 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Prince of Wales was on a two-day visit to New Zealand to commemorate the victims of the Christchurch Mosque terrorist attacks. (Hannah Peters – Pool/Getty Images)
“But if an interview with [Ardern] was included in ‘Live to Lead’, she released a statement stressing that her ties to the project were with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and there had been no communication with the Sussexes, who facilitated the interviews and whose Archewell Productions are also involved “They clearly distanced themselves from Harry and Meghan, who have now become critical of the monarchy,” he continued.
The Guardian reported that on the day the trailer was released, Ardern learned the Sussexes were linked to the documentary.
“It’s not far-fetched to assume that the former Prime Minister is further distancing herself from the Sussexes by accepting William’s invitation to sign on as trustee of his highest-profile charitable endeavor,” said Christopher Andersen, author of The King. “I think we can certainly see the two camps competing for celebrity support for their various causes, which only further strains an already strained relationship.”
PRINCE WILLIAM IS ‘ANGRY’ ABOUT PRINCE HARRY’S TELL-ALL, EXPERTS CLAIM ‘HE LOST THE BROTHER HE KNEW FOREVER’
In 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were on a 16-day autumn tour, visiting cities in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. The couple announced they would step down as senior royals in 2020. (Jason Dorday – Pool/Getty Images)
The relationship between William and his younger brother Harry, 38, is said to be strained. In Harry & Meghan, Harry claimed William yelled at him during the Sandringham summit. At the time, Harry sat down with William, as well as the Queen and former Prince Charles, to discuss how the Sussexes could live independently.
“It was scary having my brother yelling and yelling at me and my dad saying things that just weren’t true and my grandmother sitting still and kind of taking it all in,” Harry said. “The saddest part was this wedge that was created between me and my brother so that he is now on the side of the institution. Part of that, I understand, is his legacy. To some extent that’s already ingrained in him, part of his responsibility is the viability and continuity of this institution.”
Harry went on to claim in his memoir Spare, published in January this year, that William attacked him during a heated argument. Neither Buckingham Palace nor William’s office at Kensington Palace commented on the allegations.
Royal expert Shannon Felton Spence told Fox News Digital that despite all the tensions with his brother as heir, William has decided to put the crown first.
“The Royal Foundation officially transitioned Earthshot to an independent foundation last year,” she said. “So Prince William is the founder, he’s the president of the board of trustees, but technically it’s its own thing now.”
PRINCE HARRY SAYS 400 PAGES WERE CUT FROM THE BOOK “SPARE PARTS” BECAUSE WILLIAM, CHARLES WOULD NEVER FORGIVE HIM
The relationship between Prince William (right) and Prince Harry (left) remains tense. (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
“Earthshot has a proven track record,” she shared. “Jacinda has proven herself in a nation vulnerable to climate change. She has conscript power, she is young and dynamic. It’s a very smart diplomatic addition to the Trustees and a good place for them to lend their name and impact to the next phase of their careers.”
“It’s kind of unsurprising that both the Wales and Sussexes want to join her,” she continued. “Honestly, it’s another example of how a royalty in action is more attractive than a celebrity in idle. The exclusivity, mysticism and diplomatic power of the Crown will triumph over Tinseltown every time.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they would step down as senior royals in 2020. They cited the media’s racist treatment of the biracial duchess and a lack of support from the palace.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.