Prince William Says He Honors Queen Elizabeth’s Memory With His Wildlife Work

Tom Sykes
·2 min read
Paul Grover/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Paul Grover/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.

Prince William paid a moving tribute to his late grandmother as he spoke about the importance of ending the illegal trade in wildlife in his first public speech as Prince of Wales Tuesday, saying: “In times of loss, it is a comfort to honor those we miss through the work we do.”

William was named Prince of Wales by his father, after Charles became king following the queen’s death in September.

William established United For Wildlife (UFW) in 2014, to protect endangered species put at risk by the illegal trafficking of wildlife products.

King Charles, Prince William Stun Crowd Waiting to See Queen’s Coffin With Surprise Visit

William’s keynote speech at the UFW conference in London was keenly watched by royal observers seeking a roadmap to the next few decades of William’s life. As expected, he used it to clearly signpost that the larger cause of conservation will continue to be a key preoccupation for him over the decades to come.

Later this week, he is expected to restate his commitment to making sport accessible to all young people, long an issue he has campaigned on, while Kate is expected to reiterate that her key causes will remain childhood development and mental health.

In his speech William said: “Our natural world is one of our greatest assets. It is a lesson I learnt from a young age, from my father and grandfather, both committed naturalists in their own right, and also from my much-missed grandmother, who cared so much for the natural world.

“In times of loss, it is a comfort to honor those we miss through the work we do.

“I take great comfort, then, from the progress we are making to end the illegal wildlife trade.”

William also paid tribute to Anton Mzimba, a South African ranger who was murdered earlier this year in a crime that rocked the conservation community.

William said the murder of Mzimba was “especially brutal” and “shocking confirmation of how vicious the illegal wildlife trade is,” adding, “He stood up to violent criminals and paid the ultimate price.”

UFW has contributed to over 250 arrests, almost 200 seizures of wildlife products and has trained over 100,000 people.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Pet Shop Boys: 'We should call our next tour Farewell'

    The pop group look back on 40 years of chart success, and discuss their 15th album, Nonetheless.

  • Huawei's smart car tech offers automakers route to China sales

    It's taken Huawei just four years to become a force in smart car technology, navigating the devastation of trade sanctions on its smartphones business while simultaneously developing a driver assistance system that is the darling of the Beijing auto show. Huawei Technologies has two huge booths at this week's event, and there are at least seven Chinese automakers touting its Qiankun installed in their cars as the most sophisticated advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) to date. Even Germany's Volkswagen will equip its China-made, China-bound Audi Q6L e-tron with Qiankun upon the car's 2025 launch, in Huawei's first deal with a foreign automaker, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

  • Madonna thanks children for support after ‘near-death experience’

    The US singer has performed around 80 dates in her Celebration Tour.

  • ‘Enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford hits out at abuse from Manchester United fans

    Marcus Rashford has hit out at the abuse he has suffered this season and said “enough is enough”.

  • Capsizing of Tuvalu boat carrying vaccines highlights climate change challenges, UNICEF says

    The capsizing of a boat carrying childhood vaccines and health workers in Tuvalu underscored the challenges of healthcare in remote Pacific Islands as they battle extreme weather caused by climate change, the U.N children's agency UNICEF said. UNICEF supports Pacific Islands with reliable supply of vaccines, a priority in a region where hospitals can run out of medicine because of remote locations.

  • Euro zone consumers lower inflation expectations again, ECB survey shows

    Euro zone consumers lowered their expectation for inflation over the next 12 months in March but continued to see price growth above the European Central Bank's 2% target further out, the ECB's Consumer Expectations Survey showed on Friday. Inflation has fallen quickly over the past year and the ECB is planning to cut interest rates in June but the outlook further out remains clouded by rising energy costs, stubbornly high services inflation and continued geopolitical tensions that threaten to disrupt trade. Euro zone consumers saw inflation in the next 12 months at 3.0%, a tad below the 3.1% expected a month earlier, the ECB said.

  • Decoding Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC): A Strategic SWOT Insight

    Unveiling the Financial and Strategic Position of Northrop Grumman Corp

  • Aimee Everett admits Palace’s impending promotion has left squad ‘shocked’

    Palace – subject to licensing approval – will join the top flight at a significant turning point for the WSL and Championship.

  • Triangle of Sadness to The Idea of You: the seven best films to watch on TV this week

    The Palme d’Or winner takes aim at the fashion world as models have a disastrous time on a luxury yacht, while Anne Hathaway falls for a boyband star in a swoony, steamy romance

  • Love Island's Molly Smith on trolls calling her 'too skinny'

    Ex-Love Islander Molly Smith shares how she handles trolls criticising her body and why she's so well matched to her younger boyfriend Tom.

  • Net zero does not mean ‘huge shift’ in everyday lives, top climate adviser says

    The shift to zero emissions is an investment strategy for the UK, Climate Change Committee chief executive Chris Stark said, as he leaves the role.

  • The Pro-Palestine marches risk turning London into sectarian Belfast

    Late morning on the second day of Passover in Stamford Hill, north-east London, the streets are busy with families on their way to synagogue. Women push double buggies – often with at least one too many children for the number of seats spilling out of them – men walk in groups and with purpose. It’s a sunny morning and this is a holy day and a happy day for this tight-knit community.

  • Time to crack down on Ontario licence plates, STO says

    The revenue-starved bus network in Gatineau, Que., is calling for a crackdown on residents who keep their Ontario licence plates instead of paying renewal fees in Quebec that support transit.On Thursday, the board of directors for the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) put forward a resolution that the agency and the City of Gatineau join forces to pressure government authorities on the issue."I think it's a question of fairness toward the citizens of Gatineau," said Manoir-des-Trembles–V

  • Documents reveal Ottawa's efforts to get Loblaw, Walmart on board with grocery code

    It was evident to the federal government as early as last fall that Loblaw and Walmart might be holdouts to the grocery code of conduct, jeopardizing the project's success. Documents obtained through access to information legislation shed new light on the federal government’s efforts to convince the two retailers to sign the grocery code of conduct, with cracks appearing in the months leading up to a House of Commons meeting where the grocers said they couldn't sign the near-complete code. “Ther

  • Booze-free bottle shops aim to showcase variety, educate consumers

    Jonathan Barembruch and his wife would often sit with a glass of wine and unwind after long days at work. But when his wife became pregnant, Barembruch decided to find an alternative for their after-work tradition, setting out to find the best non-alcoholic drinks so the two could still carry on their evening ritual. Several online retailers sold non-alcoholic wine, beer and spirits, but none of them offered enough information about the products, he recalled. It was hard to decide which one tast

  • Bill Skarsgård excels in weird and gory action movie Boy Kills World

    Boy Kills World, starring Bill Skarsgard, Michelle Dockery and Famke Janssen, is out now in cinemas, and it's a weird and gory spin on an action revenge tale.

  • RCMP's ability to defend national security is eroding, report warns

    The RCMP's federal wing is at a "critical juncture" and its ability to police key files like foreign interference, terrorism and financial crime is on the line, says a recent report from the Mounties' independent advisory board.After studying the sustainability of federal policing for more than a year, a task force set up by the external Management Advisory Board drafted a report that says the RCMP must change to survive — and the federal government needs to step up to protect Canadians' safety.

  • N.W.T. appeal court panel orders new sentencing hearing for man convicted in Hay River killing

    A panel of N.W.T. Court of Appeal judges has ordered a new sentencing hearing for a Hay River man convicted of second-degree murder and robbery in the 2017 death of Alex Norwegian.The panel also changed his murder conviction to a manslaughter conviction.James Thomas was sentenced in 2021 to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years. He appealed that sentence and his conviction in March 2022, arguing his trial judge didn't apply the law correctly when it came to his murder charge.He

  • Government hits Canada Life with financial sanctions

    The federal government has begun imposing financial sanctions on Canada Life after months of outcry from public servants, retirees and their families who were left fighting for medical claims to be covered.Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) says it "is taking steps to address startup delays faced by Canada Life and has begun to apply financial consequence mechanisms under the contract," according to a statement from spokesperson Michèle LaRose.She said PSPC is not yet in a position to

  • Ottawa says pharmacare is coming — here's what you need to know

    The federal government's latest budget sets aside $1.5 billion to implement pharmacare — a major financial commitment with the potential for a wide-ranging impact on the country's health-care system.The program, long demanded by the government's supply-and-confidence partners in the NDP, will start small by covering just two categories of drugs.For the program to get off the ground, the provinces and territories also will have to be on board.Ottawa has made a commitment to expand pharmacare — it