Prince William Taps Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Friend Chef José Andrés for Earthshot Prize Role

Mar. 15, 2025

(Left) Prince William in Singapore on Nov. 6, 2023; (Right) Chef Jose Andres backstage at “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on March 19, 2024.Photo:Jordan Pettitt - Pool/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Jordan Pettitt - Pool/Getty; Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Prince William’sEarthshot Prizehas recruited ChefJosé Andrésfor a new role on its judging panel — meaning that the celebrity chef will now be connected to both the Prince of Wales and his brother,Prince Harry.

On Sept. 3, the Earthshot Prizeannouncedthat Andrés, 55, had joined its Earthshot Prize Council alongside activists Wanjira Mathai and Nemonte Nenquimo. The additions expand the council that already included Prince William,Queen Raniaof Jordan,Cate Blanchett,Sir David Attenborough,Stella McCartney, Indra Nooyi and others. The announcement from the Earthshot Prize also included the news thatRobert Irwinhas signed on as an inaugural Earthshot Prize Global Ambassador.

The council selects the winners of the $1 million Earthshot Prize across five flagship categories for the global contest that Williamlaunched in 2020, aimed at promoting impactful approaches to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges over the course of the next decade.

“From farm to table, there’s so much we can do to inspire the world to see food as a powerful tool for creativity and change,” Andrés said in a statement in the announcement, which celebrated him as a humanitarian and restaurateur.

In April 2022, Andrés told PEOPLE that his friendship with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was meaningful to him as they worked together to create positive change.

“I love them,” he told PEOPLE. “I have been able tospend time with them, working with them and they are very hands-on and highly knowledgeable of what’s happening in the world, what the issues are and what the needs are.”

He added of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that “For me, it is a pleasure to call them friends. All my life I have been trying to learn what exactly we are missing because why is there still hunger? What are we missing? We have to make the most of the opportunities of goodness, and I believe that with people like Meghan and Harry, we can make it happen.”

(Left) Chef Jose Andres at “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in October 2023; (Right) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the 2024 ESPY Awards in Hollywood, California on July 11, 2024.Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty; Kevin Mazur/Getty

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty; Kevin Mazur/Getty

More recently, Meghan, 43,contributed a recipe(lemon olive oil cake!) for World Central Kitchen’s first charity cookbook.The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hopewas published in September 2023, with all proceeds benefiting the nonprofit’s emergency response efforts.

Looking ahead, the awards ceremony for the fourth cycle of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize will be held inCape Town, South Africain November. Even sooner, some wondered if the Prince of Wales, 42, and Duke of Sussex, 39,would be in New York Cityat the same time in late September for separate events. The Earthshot Prize announced in July that it would host its fourth annual Innovation Summit in Manhattan on Sept. 24, while a spokesperson for Prince Harry revealed on Aug. 27 that hewould visit N.Y.C. during the UN General Assembly High-level Week and Climate Week.

Climate Weekruns fromSept. 22 to Sept. 29, while High-level Weekwill be heldfrom Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, and the spokesperson said the Duke of Sussex was making the trip to “advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic initiatives.”

While Prince Williamtraveled to New Yorkfor the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in 2023, he won’t make the trip across the pond for this year’s event, meaning that their paths won’t overlap.

Strain remains between the brothers amid an ongoing rift, and the two were in the same place for the first time since their father’s coronation in May 2023 when they both attended thememorial servicefor their late uncle,Lord Robert Fellowes, in the U.K. on Aug. 29. Fellowes was the husband of their late motherPrincess Diana’s sister Lady Jane and a private secretary to their grandmotherQueen Elizabeth. He died on July 29 of undisclosed causes at age 82.

Prince William and Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England on Sept. 10, 2022.Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Chris Jackson - WPA Pool/Getty Images

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The estranged brothers sat apart during the service at St. Mary’s Church in Snettisham, Norfolk, each with different groups of their maternal cousins.

“Most people were astounded that Harry came,” one of the reported 300 attendees told PEOPLE about the Duke of Sussex, who relocated to California with Meghan after they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020. “He was on remarkably good form — and you could tell he was very pleased to see everybody. And he was very pleased that he had come over,” they said.

PEOPLEfurther learnedthat Prince Harry stayed with his uncleCharles Spencerat Althorp House, the ancestral home of Princess Diana’s family, during the trip.

source: people.com