Prince William and Kate Middleton Braved the Wind and Cold for a Visit to Boston Harbor
Last night, Prince William thanked the crowd of "hardy Bostonians" for braving inclement weather to watch his speech at City Hall. Today, the Prince and Princess of Wales ventured out again in almost-freezing temperatures—this time tho, there was no rain but intense wind as the royals visited Boston Harbor.
The couple bundled up for this afternoon's event, with William wearing a navy blue coat with a gray scarf and Kate sporting a brown coat by Alexander McQueen and knitwear Gabriela Hearst to tour the waterfront and see the climate challenges the city faces as it contends with rising sea levels. Upon arrival at Piers Park, the Waleses were greeted by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Reverend Mariama White-Hammond, and Lisa Wieland, CEO of Massport and made the group made way toward the water.
The chilly temperatures were a focus throughout the engagement. After Will and Kate departed, Wu shared that at one point,"We were talking about wanting to bring them back...and everyone vowed that it would be in summer next time."
Kathy Abbott, CEO of Boston Harbor Now, who met with the Waleses during their visit to the park, shared that she offered Prince William a hand warmer, as he was not wearing gloves. He said: "I don't want to be rude, I'm keeping them [hands] in my pockets, when I can feel them again it will be better."
And later on, as the Waleses left the waterfront, they told a group of park workers they might like to return to the area "when it's a bit warmer." "It's beautiful along the water front," William said.
The Earthshot Prize, too, was of course top of mind. While Will and Kate were in the park, it was announced that Living Seawalls, a 2021 Earthshot Prize Finalist, is partnering with Stone Living Lab on an ecological restoration project on Boston Harbor’s existing coastal seawalls. Per a press release about the initiative, "the partners will install Living Seawalls panels, mimicking the habitat features of natural shoreline ecosystems, such as rock pools and crevices, to be fitted in scalable mosaics onto seawalls with otherwise low marine biodiversity. The complex panel surfaces will increase the habitat area available for growth of marine life, such as shellfish, tunicates, and seaweed, critical to supporting the rest of the food web. They will also add protection to marine life from high temperatures and predators."
Representatives of both Stone Living Lab and Living Seawalls spent time with Waleses in the park today as they viewed the shoreline.
"We are thrilled and honored to partner with the Stone Living Lab to bring Living Seawalls to Boston," Katherine Dafforn, Associate Professor at Macquarie University, and co-founder of the Living Seawalls project, said in a statement.
"This project will showcase the amazing benefits to be gained by designing built structures for both humans and nature and serve as an enduring legacy of The Earthshot Prize Boston 2022."
While this morning, Netflix premiered the first trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new docuseries, William and Kate have yet to comment on the program. Earlier this week, a source shared that the couple is entirely focused on Earthshot during their visit to Boston and won’t be distracted by other things. Tomorrow the Waleses will attend the Earthshot Prize ceremony at MGM Music Hall.
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