The Prince of Wales ended his time in Cape Town by chatting about one of his favourite subjects – seaweed – and picking up some souvenirs for his The Princess of Wales at home.
Prince William, 42, took home some earrings for the Princess of Wales as he joined innovative local seaweed businesses at a coalition roundtable at Portside Tower, overlooking the city.
The accessories, made from beach cast kelp, were created by South African brand SeaTree Emporium.
The Prince, wearing a blue blazer from a local vintage store in London, took the time to stop and speak at every stand, as he was greeted by Earthshot CEO Hannah Jones and Vincent Doumeizel, Founder of the Global Seaweed Coalition, Senior Advisor at UN Global Compact for Oceans, and author of 'The Seaweed Revolution'.
© Chris Jackson/Pool/ShutterstockAs he was shown a French children's book "Comment les algues peuvent sauver le monde" (How Seaweed can save the world), William commented: "That'll sort out my children's French."
© Ian Vogler/Pool/ShutterstockStopping by Seaweed Café, he asked co-founder Nancy Iraba: "What's seaweed jelly?" and sniffed soap made by Macroalgae & plant-based skincare, Mwani.
The Prince was also reunited with Pierre Paslier, co-founder of Notpla, which produces seaweed based food packaging at the event, telling him, "I was bigging you up last night" and adding how "proud" he was.
Speaking afterwards, Pierre said of William: "He's actually been really interested in helping the whole ecosystem grow, and one of the things that has been helping us is to get stadiums to adopt more sustainable packaging.
© Chris Jackson/Pool/Shutterstock"We've done a lot of work with Levy, the stadium division of Compass Group, to adopt plastic-free packaging that is made from seaweed.
"And now we are in 50 venues across the UK, so that's Twickenham, the Oval, Aston Villa, his favourite, Chelsea, Tottenham, the O2 – all of these venues are using our packaging which is really exciting.
"We've already replaced millions of single-use plastics, thanks to this. And every time we catch up [with the Prince], he's always keen to know how it's going on that front.
"So it was really nice to make that connection again, especially because British Airways is a new member of the global alliance, so we're starting to work together."
Earthshot 2024 finalist Coast 4C was also among the businesses at the coalt.
William was also introduced to Daniel Hooft of Kelp Blue, which harvests cultivated kelp to produce ingredients for agriculture, textiles and pharmaceuticals and Sarah Halse, Research and Sustainability Manager at Abagold, which produces seaweed to improve its sustainability, as well as Earthshot finalist Coast 4C.
Before departing, William told Vincent: "What you're doing here is fantastic. I'm looking forward to your next book."
