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Princess Eugenie has said she wants her son to be a climate change activist from the age of ‘two’ and has stopped using plastic at home.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the 32-year-old said giving birth to her son, August, last year had “totally changed” her perspective on the environment.
She said: ‘My son is going to be an activist for two years, which is in a couple of days. It’s all for them, right? Every decision we make now has to do with how August is going to be able to live his life.’
His comments echo the interventions of his cousin, Prince Harry, 38, who described how “everything changed” when he became a father because he began to wonder “what is the point of bringing a new person into this world when he gets to your age and he’s on fire?’
Princess Eugenie said her one-year-old son August is the focus of her climate change activism (pictured with her son at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022)
Harry also praised child activists, led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, for refusing to attend school as part of a “climate strike”.
Speaking about a visit to 2020 in 2020, he said: ‘This week, led by Greta, the children of the world are on strike. There is an emergency. It’s a race against time, and we’re losing it. Everybody knows.
The Duke of York’s daughter said becoming a mother has made her more concerned about communities vulnerable to climate change in a conversation with Reuters IMPACT and Arctic Humanity at Risk Basecamp.
Speaking to Reuters editor-at-large Axel Threlfall and Arctic Humanity founder Gail Whiteman, Eugenie said: ‘My son will be an activist from the age of two, which is in a couple of days. So, he, everything is for them.
“I spoke to Peter Thomson, the UN special envoy for the oceans and all he tells me is that I am doing this for my grandchildren. And that’s the same.
“Every decision we make now has to be about August, what he will be able to see and do and how he will live his life.
“But I also think that as a mother, all of a sudden, you totally change, your hormones change, everything changes.
‘Like now I’m afraid of flying and things like that and I never would have been before.’
Harry, who described how ‘everything changed’ when he became a father because he began to wonder ‘what’s the point of bringing a new person into this world when they reach your age and are on fire?’ He has been seen with Meghan and Archie in 2019 during their trip to South Africa.
Prince Andrew’s youngest daughter said she sees the world differently since becoming a mother and that her concerns about climate change have affected her way of life.
She revealed: ‘At home we are plastic free, we try to be plastic free as much as possible and I’m trying to teach him that. But it is a battle.
But the princess also spoke of her hope for the future of the environment, saying: “I like being in the ‘glass half full’.”
She added: “I’d rather be like that, but sometimes facts and figures and sometimes dinner parties give you that kind of frustrated, pessimistic feeling.”
He also warned of the impact of a changing environment on vulnerable communities, adding: ‘Modern slavery and human trafficking is a really big problem all over the world.
‘There are an estimated 49 million people in slavery today and we know that when the weather is vulnerable, the most vulnerable people are affected by it.
‘And we’re going to see that more and more, you know, every time a crisis happens, that people are going to be vulnerable and find themselves in difficult situations.
“So the weather really goes hand in hand.”
The daughter of the Duke of York (pictured at the UN Ocean Conference 2022) has spoken out on plastic pollution.
Princess Eugenie is known to be close with her cousin Prince Harry, who recently published an explosive memoir, Spare.
A publicity note in the book describes Harry as an ‘environmentalist’, and he has previously spoken out on ecological issues.
Climate change was a key issue in the prince’s UN speech last year, when he said it was “wreaking havoc” on the planet and hitting the most vulnerable hardest.
Speaking at the 2021 COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, he said it was “quite depressing” that children grew up in a world where their home country was “on fire or under water”.
However, he has drawn accusations of ecological hypocrisy for repeatedly traveling to events, such as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, on private jets.
Under the terms of the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2°C, each person’s carbon budget must be no more than 2.1 tonnes per year, meaning Harry and Meghan have exceeded this. almost 15 times in a single flight.
The princess launched a miniseries last year on conserving the oceans (pictured visiting a regenerative ocean farm in Wales)
In an interview with Reuters IMPACT and Arctic Humanity at Risk Basecamp, Eugenie said educating her son about the environment is a “battle.”
Eugenie has been outspoken about fighting plastic pollution and tried to make her 2018 wedding to Jack Brooksbank as plastic-free as possible, even offering guests water in recyclable aluminum cans.
She explained to the Daily Mail: “Like many people, I am saddened by images of wild creatures on beaches, which I have seen photographed strangled or entangled in plastic, and their lives ended by our casual use and disposal of plastic.”
“I know many people have the same aversion to inadvertently damaging things that are the most precious and beautiful in the natural world.
‘I have always loved being in nature. My parents instilled in me a love of wild places and a respect for animals and the natural world.’
The royal was named an ambassador for the Blue Marine Foundation in 2021 and launched a miniseries last year on ocean conservation featuring leading ocean advocates.
In the final episode, Eugenie interviewed her “dear friend,” singer Ellie Goulding, who told the princess: “Now it’s way beyond being an eco-warrior, it’s way beyond being someone who likes a little nature, or likes to be by the sea, I think it’s very important to emphasize that we all have a role to play in this’.
A photo from a Halloween party attended by Harry, Meghan, Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who was featured in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary.
Eugenie was also the only senior royal to appear on the Sussexes’ Netflix series Harry & Meghan.
In the first episode of the Netflix series, the royals are seen partying with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the night before their 2017 romance went public.
Eugenie was reportedly one of the first to find out about Prince Harry’s relationship with Meghan, whom he already knew through their mutual friend Misha Nonoo.
Jason Knauf who informed her that the news of their new relationship had reached the press.
Megan recalled, ‘Well, if she’s going out tomorrow, we’re going to have fun tonight!’
Harry added: “We went to this Halloween party together, where we could be fully dressed up and no one would know.” He was wearing a bandana and goggles.
Sharing photos from their night out, Meghan said: “Her cousin Eugenie and her boyfriend at the time Jack and my friend Marcus were there too.” It was great. Just silly fun.