The Princess of Wales will join the Prince of Wales in Mumbai this week for his annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony, Kensington Palace announced. Catherine will take part in a number of engagements during their three days in India, marking her second international trip of the year after visiting Italy in May for her early years work.
First Awards Attendance Since 2022
This will be the first time the Princess has attended the awards ceremony since 2022, when the event was held in Boston and overshadowed by the release of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Netflix documentary. She missed the awards in Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town in 2024 and 2025 during her cancer recovery, and in Singapore in 2023 while Prince George prepared for a school exam.
Programme Highlights in Mumbai
The visit will focus on the Earthshot Prize, which supports innovative solutions to climate change. The couple will meet this year's finalists at an iconic Mumbai location and attend the inaugural Children's Earthshot Awards Ceremony. Following a nationwide programme involving 15,000 schools across 24 Indian states, young people aged nine to seventeen have been invited to develop solutions to environmental challenges in their communities.
William and Catherine have told their three children about the youth programme and are looking forward to watching the ceremony on Tuesday night, which will be streamed on Amazon Prime for the first time.
Celebrating UK-India Cultural Ties
The green carpet event will feature performances by Take That, Indian singer Shreya Ghoshal, and appearances from Hollywood actor Rami Malek, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, and Bridgerton's Simone Ashley. Filmmaker Karan Johar will host the ceremony for 5,000 guests. The prince founded the prize to recognise and scale up ideas to help repair the planet, with five winning finalists each awarded £1 million annually.
During their time in Mumbai, the royal couple will also celebrate cultural connections between the UK and India, including cricket, fashion and cinema, beginning with an engagement focused on gully cricket and concluding with a visit to Mumbai's film industry. A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: "This will be The Prince and Princess' second official visit to India, and Their Royal Highnesses look forward to spending time with people across Mumbai and celebrating the inspiring environmental solutions, innovation and young leadership that will be showcased throughout the visit and at the 2026 Earthshot Prize Awards Night."
