In a world awash with climate rhetoric and hollow promises, Prince William delivered a striking reminder in Monaco that time is running out—not just for abstract targets or distant species, but for the blue lungs of our planet.
In a measured yet urgent address to the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, Prince William didn’t mince his words: life on the ocean floor is “diminishing before our eyes,” and ambitious action is required “on a global, national and local level.”
It was no mere royal platitude. Speaking in both English and French, William appealed not just to scientists and conservationists, but to financiers, policymakers and fellow heads of state. Oceans, he said, are vital for life on Earth—producing half the world’s oxygen, regulating the climate, and feeding over three billion people. And yet, these same oceans are buckling under the pressure of human folly: overfishing, pollution, and relentless warming.
The message, though not new, gained fresh force coming from a future king. This was not the Prince cloistered in royal ceremony. It was William as founder of the Earthshot Prize, speaking alongside serious players like National Geographic’s Enric Sala and invoking the authority of none other than Sir David Attenborough. His message was underscored by the premiere of Oceans, Attenborough’s latest documentary and, in William’s words, “the most compelling argument for immediate action I have ever seen.”
It is no coincidence that this “landmark intervention,” as Kensington Palace termed it, comes just days before the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. The setting in Monaco—Europe’s playground of privilege—was also pointed. As yachts bobbed in the harbour, William reminded his audience that the glittering blue expanse below them is a fragile engine of life, not merely a luxury backdrop.
Critically, the Prince highlighted a challenge that environmentalists too often gloss over: finance. Investment in ocean protection, he acknowledged, “can feel distant and disconnected from our everyday lives.” Yet without serious capital, marine conservation remains a noble but toothless pursuit. William’s appeal to financiers to embrace the “blue economy” was a shrewd recalibration of the debate—shifting it from guilt to opportunity.
Indeed, the term “blue economy” may sound like UN-speak, but it is increasingly central to the next frontier of sustainable development. It refers not just to cleaning up the oceans but unlocking economic value through sustainable fishing, tidal energy, marine biotech and more. Properly stewarded, this could be the next great engine of growth—particularly for coastal communities too often left behind.
And yet, despite such potential, much of Europe remains mired in political short-termism. The EU’s Green Deal, while visionary on land, has often treated the sea as an afterthought. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) exist in theory, but many are paper parks with little actual enforcement. Industrial trawlers still scour “protected” zones. Plastic waste chokes the Mediterranean. And across the Channel, Britain’s own record is mixed at best.
This is where Prince William’s intervention matters most. Not because he has legislative power—he does not—but because he has convening power. He can sit down with President Macron, President Chavez of Costa Rica and Prince Albert of Monaco, as he did this week, and make the oceans not just an environmental priority but a diplomatic one.
And his presence is not without political resonance. While unelected EU technocrats shuffle papers and parse emissions targets, William speaks with clarity that cuts through the noise. When he says, “If we save the sea, we save our world,” he does so with a moral authority that many leaders envy but few wield.
The deeper significance of his Monaco speech lies in its tone: urgent, yes—but also optimistic. William is not peddling doom. He is calling for scale. With the Earthshot Prize awarding £1 million annually to ocean innovators, and investors increasingly wary of “brown” portfolios, the tide may be turning. But the clock is ticking.
Europe, for all its environmental posturing, must now act with conviction. That means expanding and enforcing real MPAs. It means channelling EU funds not just into wind farms and railways but into coral reefs and kelp forests. It means backing the entrepreneurs—many of whom were in that Monaco audience—who can turn marine protection from a cost centre into a growth engine.
The Prince of Wales has done his part. He has sounded the alarm, made the case, and put his name to a cause that stretches far beyond the royal family. The rest of Europe must now do theirs—before the silence beneath the waves becomes permanent.
Main Image: The Prince and Princess of Wales, via X.
