Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate arrived in Boston on Wednesday for their first visit to the United States in eight years. This is William’s first overseas trip since becoming heir to the British crown.
A sign of the importance of this trip for the British monarchy and its former colony, the White House announced on Wednesday that US President Joe Biden would go to ‘greet the Prince and Princess of Wales’ in Boston, capital of New England. and historic city symbol of British colonialism before the revolution and American independence at the end of the 18th century.
For ‘our first visit abroad since the death of my grandmother, I would like to thank the people of Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, for their many tributes to the late Queen. She remembered with great fondness her visit for the bicentenary [de la révolution, ndlr] in 1976,” the Prince of Wales said upon arriving at Boston airport.
Prix ‘Earthshot’
The princely couple’s journey was due to culminate on Friday with the second edition of the ‘Earthshot’ prize created by Prince William in 2020 to support innovative solutions to regenerate the planet. Five prizes of one million pounds sterling each (1.14 million francs) will be awarded in five categories.
Aged 40, parents of three children aged 4 to 9, the Prince and Princess of Wales strive to project a more modern and accessible image of the monarchy, but also an irreproachable sense of duty.
Their move, however, is already suffering from the controversy that arose in the United Kingdom on Wednesday. An 83-year-old former lady-in-waiting, close to the late Queen Elizabeth II for more than 60 years and godmother to Prince William, resigned on Wednesday after insistent questions about her origins to a black feminist activist during a reception.
However, no meeting has been announced between Prince William and his brother Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan and their two young children. The two couples are notoriously cold, especially since the television interview given by Harry and Meghan, known as the Sussexes, in the United States in March 2021, which had notably accused the royal family of racism.
/ATS