Prince William took the time to spotlight the work of Pierre Paslier, a London-based Innovation Design Engineer who co-founded the sustainable packaging company Notpla, in a move that was seen as "deeply personal" for the Earthshot Prize winner.
When the Prince of Wales stopped by The Graham Norton Show to discuss the Earthshot Prize initiative, which he launched in 2020, he also made a special mention of Pierre and his work on creating packaging made out of seaweed.
Prince William's kind gesture revealed
© Instagram"One of my favourites is Notpla, which stands for Not Plastic, and it [was] actually started in the UK by a Spanish and French guy at university, who got fed up with picking up plastic off beaches and around the world," William said on the show. "So he came up with a plastic alternative, which was seaweed."
Pierre, the co-founder and co-CEO of the innovative brand, shared exclusively with HELLO! that he was stunned to hear the prince highlight Notpla during his interview.
© Getty Images"I had absolutely no idea he would mention Notpla, let alone give such a detailed pitch about what we do," Pierre said. "It really shows how deeply personal the Earthshot Prize is to him. I almost thought he was going to give us a second shout-out when they started talking about Aston Villa, as Villa Park is one of the earliest adopters of Notpla packaging."
Pierre added that the interview "put such a big smile" on his face and helped spread his mission to a wider audience. "Political commitments towards our planet's health have been wavering in the past couple of years, so that kind of positive message from HRH is such a welcome boost of energy," he said.
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"We all depend on nature on so many levels, but everyone gets stuck into their own echo chambers by our algorithms and social media feeds. It's amazing to see how he uses his platform to bridge such a widespread group of people to focus on this crucial issue."
Notpla won the Earthshot Prize in 2022 in the Build a Waste-Free World category.
Inside Prince William's historic interview
Prince William made history on October 23 when he became the first senior working royal to appear on a talk show, all to promote his Earthshot Prize, which aims to discover and celebrate ideas and solutions that will help the environment.
Also on Graham Norton's couch were Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin, all of whom are involved in the prize, whether that be by hosting previous awards ceremonies, serving as a global ambassador or being a member of the council.
© WireImage"For many years, I was hearing stories about environmental issues and one thing that struck me was the negativity and doom, which got me down," William explained in the interview.
"I thought we could do something more powerful and more optimistic, and the idea of an awards ceremony came about, and we could talk about urgency and optimism together. It's all about getting excited."
© Alamy Live News."There are some amazing people out there doing things to protect the world," he continued.
"We could really highlight what is being done and scale them to the next level to have more impact around the world." 2026's Earthshot Prize winners will be announced in Mumbai, India, in November.
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