The Details and Drama from Will and Kate’s Boston Trip

Theoretically, the royal news this week was going to be all about Prince William and Princess Kate’s big American adventure: their trip to Boston to host The Earthshot Prize gala, the Prince of Wales’s marquee environmental initiative that spotlights international climate change efforts.

The best laid plans, however, didn’t account for the fact that the couple formerly known as Cambridge would be contending with a number of rather distracting royal-adjacent news stories. Headlines are coming at them from both sides, literally, from where they are on the East Coast of the U.S.: To the west, a scandal at Buckingham Palace. To the east, Meghan and Harry making some moves and living their own best lives, with eyebrow-raising timing.

In fact, to borrow some meteorological language from Wills’s climate-saving Earthshot foundation, we’re in the midst of three separate and equally fascinating royal weather systems at the moment. The thunderstorm of controversy erupting out of a racist incident at King Charles’ court; the breezy, blue-sky day of Meghan and Harry’s latest chapter (almost ready for our viewing pleasure in their Netflix documentary); and, caught in the middle, the high pressure system sitting over Massachusetts, where Will and Kate are fighting for the future of the Royal Family, one Jumbotron at a time. (Not to be dramatic.)

But enough weather chat! Let’s break down William and Kate’s trip to Boston—and the current royal whirlwind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Earthshot Gala was star-studded—and very, very eco-friendly

The dress code was “consider wearing secondhand, vintage or re-wear an outfit you already own” and Kate went one better in an electric green Solace London gown that she rented from the U.K. fashion rental company Hurr. She accessorized it with a very-much vintage Art Deco emerald choker that previously belonged to Princess Diana, and Queen Mary before her. William looked dashing in a navy velvet jacket and black satin bow tie.

Guests included Shailene Woodley, David Beckham and Annie Lennox. Was the green carpet a touch too literal? Maybe, but respect to Prince William and the organizers (including BBC Studios) for doing their very best to stick to a theme for the star-studded event, complete with performances by Billie Eilish, Ellie Goulding and Chloe x Halle. The food was vegan or vegetarian and locally sourced, single-use plastic was banned, and all the lighting LED-powered. Apparently even the makeup at the event is vegan and cruelty-free! 

The gala handed out $8 million in prize money to five category winners, each representing some kind of climate-change-tackling innovation. (Apparently this year they had 1,000 entries from over 80 countries.) The 15 finalists included an Australian group that trains Indigenous women to be wildlife rangers, Kenyan makers of low-pollution stoves, an initiative that makes containers out of seaweed, and an Indian company that makes a “greenhouse in a box” for small farmers. 

 

Kate’s tour wardrobe was by turns corporate, sustainable (somewhat) and festive

While the palace would really, really love folks to stop talking about Kate’s clothes, they remain a central part of how we “learn” about her, even if that message is “Guys, I’m really serious now? I mean, look at all my pantsuits.” This trip, she remains in her Corporate Girlie era—we’ve seen Alexander McQueen and Roland Mouret wide-legged trousers with matching blazers—although as a special holiday treat she did return to her old “dress to a theme” ways, as seen in the tartan Burberry dress paired with a festive green McQueen coat she wore on day 1. (Shout out to Day 2 William, who matched his sweater to Kate’s cranberry Roland Mouret suit.)

There was a minor internet palaver over whether her McQueen arrival look was a rewear of a navy set she donned in September, or a new version of the suit in aubergine, but either way, Kate debuted a ton of new clothing this trip, something that feels at odds with the “saving the planet” reason for coming. She did rewear her blue Chanel blazer and burgundy Chanel flap bag, first seen in Paris in 2017, but those were the exception in a sea of new (and very expensive) clothes. Maybe she’s making an argument about “buy better, buy less?”

It feels like a stretch, much like the new Gabriela Hearst knit set she was wearing to this morning’s first engagement, and you don’t have to have any skin in that particular game to say it feels very Meghan-esque, although we’ve no doubt the Duchess of Sussex would have been tutted at in certain corners for daring to wear something so body-con on official business. 

One detail we just have to shout out: On arrival, Kate wore the same pair of sapphire earrings that Princess Diana wore when she was famously snapped dancing with John Travolta at The White House in 1985, and then again at the 1996 Met Gala. She definitely wanted us to see them, tucking her hair behind her ears just so for the photographers.

Will and Kate chatted to fellow air travellers

Will and Kate were all smiles when they deplaned at Logan International, having previously been snapped doing the rounds of the First Class cabin on their commercial flight—the only transportation they could have taken to an event dedicated to combating climate change, given the furore over wasteful celebrity use of private jets. They were snapped chatting to fellow passengers, explaining what they were up to on their trip before settling in and applying their sheet masks (we imagine).

 

They sat courtside at a ball game—and got booed

After disembarking—Kate in an Alexander McQueen pantsuit (did she change in the plane loo?)—the couple headed to City Hall, where they performed the classic royal function of flipping a switch, lighting some landmarks green to kick off the Earthshot Prize, which will be handed out at a glitzy ceremony on Friday.

Next, the couple—who are noted sports fans, of course—popped by the local stadium for a Boston Celtics game, sitting front row and making an appearance on the Jumbotron. (No Kiss Cam was deployed, alas.) Long term royal watchers will know that the Prince and Princess of Wales went to an NBA game on their last trip to the U.S. as well, memorably hanging out with Beyoncé and Jay-Z at a Brooklyn Nets game in 2014.

According to some reports, there were boos from the crowd when the royals’ faces flashed on the big screen, apparently accompanied by chants of “USA, USA.” Whether this was related to a grudge held since the Revolutionary War—Boston was the site of the infamous Tea Party protest that sparked the end of British rule—or anti-Windsor sentiment linked to their treatment of a certain American ex-royal isn’t clear.

 

William addressed the racism scandal back at the palace

This trip—Will and Kate’s first one to America since 2014, and their first royal tour since the Queen’s death—was meant to be marking a new era for them and the Royal Family. Instead, it started with an incident back in England that must have felt like an echo of their last royal tour to the Caribbean, which raised several important conversations about the royals’ role in colonialism and its associated racism and oppression (not limited to the fact that the British crown was a major beneficiary of the trade in enslaved people).

While William was winging his way to Boston, his godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, was resigning her post in the Royal Household, after a series of remarks the palace has condemned as “unacceptable and deeply regrettable.” Hussey, in her 80s, was a long serving lady-in-waiting to the late Queen—close and trusted enough that she was the one chosen to ride with her in the car to Prince Philip’s funeral—and popped up as a character in the latest season of The Crown. She quit after it emerged that she repeatedly asked a British guest at an event hosted by Camilla version where she was “really from.”

The guest, a charity leader named Ngozi Fulani, described her experience on Twitter. Later, she told The Independent newspaper, “I was in shock after it happened,” she said. “Anybody who knows me knows I don’t take this kind of nonsense, but I had to consider so many things. As a Black person, I found myself in this place where I wanted to say something but what happened would automatically be seen as my fault, it would bring [my charity] Sistah Space down.”

In what many have described as a contrast to the previous reign, the palace addressed this swiftly. Hussey apologized and resigned, and Buckingham Palace released a statement condemning her actions, and inviting Fulani to discuss it further with them if she so desired. William and Kate’s spokesperson also made a statement, saying “Racism has no place in our society. The comments were unacceptable, and it is right that the individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.”

They were met by enthusiastic crowds on solo pit stops

On Thursday morning, the couple both undertook some solo trips: William went to see the JFK Presidential Library & Museum, a nod to President Kennedy’s “moonshot” speech in the 1960s about putting a man on the moon that inspired the name of Will’s awards show. Later in the afternoon, he met up with President Joe Biden, who jetted to Boston to see Wills after hosting a state dinner for French president Emmanuel Macron the night before.

Kate, for her part, went Ivy League, dropping by Harvard to meet researchers at the School for the Developing Child. As with their other stops, crowds seem to have come out in force to see the royals IRL, which must feel particularly welcome after the basketball game boos. Kate, for those wondering, is wearing an Emilia Wickstead dress with her second Mulberry bag of the trip.

Harry & Meghan stole some of their thunder

In surely-not-incidental timing, Netflix released the trailer for Meghan and Harry’s long-rumoured documentary series, Harry & Meghan, which is chock full of intimate PDA moments and tells their “love story.” It also hints at darker themes: Harry speaks about protecting his family, Meghan is pictured crying, and there’s a shot of the icy 2020 Commonwealth Day ceremony, when Harry and Meghan and William and Kate could barely look at each other. Just how revealing the doc will be about these much-speculated-upon moments—and how badly the palace will come off as a result—remains to be seen. The fact that it landed during Will and Kate’s visit to the U.S., the country where Harry and Meghan moved to to escape the oppressive palace environment, feels on the nose.

But that’s not all we saw of them this week! Meghan also made an appearance at a women’s empowerment event that was attended by Michelle Obama, and Harry released his own trailer (with a table-tennis-playing cameo from Meghan) for the next instalment of his own marquee event, The Invictus Games. It was hard to know where to look!

According to The Times, however, the mood on the ground with William and Kate’s team was one of “resignation, even amusement, rather than anger.”