Inside Prince William’s solo visit to the Big Apple: All the best photos

Prince William kicked off his visit to New York with the Billion Oyster Project on Sept. 18.

His Royal Highness visited the Billion Oyster Project to learn more about their work to revitalize New York’s waterways.

Billion Oyster Project, a nonprofit organization, aims to restore oyster reefs to New York Harbor through public education initiatives.

The future King waded in the water wearing waders and yellow gloves.

Billion Oyster’s Director of Community Engagement Robina Taliaferrow told HOLA! USA that the Prince of Wales “really enjoyed” wading in the water. Robina recalled, “He said especially after getting off an eight hour flight,” adding, “He was excited to get into the natural environment.”

William joined students who participate in the Billion Oyster Project. “He was really genuinely interested in all our work and I think that’s really special because our work is really important to all of us since we all live in New York City,” student Daiwa Egucha, 12, said.

Zelda De Zayas, 12, revealed that they taught the Prince how to measure the oysters and showed him what the different creatures were.

The Prince of Wales traveled to New York on the eve of the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit.

Following his visit with the Billion Oyster Project, the Prince of Wales and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had a bilateral meeting.

On the second day of the Prince’s visit to New York, he met with Lasso Mendoza, the president of Ecuador.

Ecuador is said to be taking important steps to protect the country’s forests, oceans, and mobilizing green finance, while also promoting the inclusion of local communities.

William highlighted Ecuador’s positive leadership in fighting plastics pollution during the bilateral meeting on Sept. 19.

Hanging on a wall in the room was an Andy Warhol print of the royal’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

Following the meeting, Prince William attended the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit at The Plaza. The 15 finalists for this year’s awards ceremony were announced at the event, which was hosted in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies

“The Prince has clearly won over Americans of all stripes and these days, that is [as] we know, no small feat,” Michael Bloomberg said at the summit.

The royal revealed that he went running in Central Park the morning of the summit. He said he “decided to join the hordes of New Yorkers doing their morning routine.”

Winners and finalists from last year’s Earthshot Prize Awards joined Prince William and Michael Bloomberg at the event in NYC.

“As we’ve seen today, the Earthshot Winners and the Finalists create that inspiration, that optimism. I think we’ve got to hang on to optimism, because it is the biggest driver of change,” the royal said during his fireside chat with Vaitea Cowan. “It is the biggest driver of innovation. I think if we remark on how pessimistic and doom and gloom, everything is - even though there is a healthy dose of that needed to make sure they’re all being kept in reality.”

He added, “It doesn’t provoke the reaction from us humans as we would like. And I think that’s been an important part of the Prize’s designs and development is not just to provide the solutions, but it’s the factor to make people believe there is hope, and there are people out there doing incredible things that will have a massive impact on our futures.”

The Prince of Wales wrapped up his whirlwind visit to New York at FDNY Ten House.

The royal met with firefighters to hear about their experiences working in the city and to discuss the importance of mental health in the first responder community.

The Prince of Wales was a first responder himself. Per Kensington Palace, he is passionate about supporting the mental health and well-being of the emergency services.