The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton could be heading for her next significant step in her phased return to international royal duties, as she may be accompanying Prince William on an official engagement in India later this year.
Reports suggest that Kate Middleton is expected to travel to join the Prince of Wales in Mumbai this November for the 2026 Earthshot Prize Ceremony. While Kensington Palace has not made an official statement of confirmation about her travel plans as of now, her appearance would be an important step.
A Potential Return to Earthshot.
If it goes ahead the Earthshot Prize will be Kate’s first appearance at one of Prince William’s climate challenge events since December 2022 when they journeyed to Boston, USA for the second Earthshot Prize Awards.
After cancer treatment in early 2024 the Princess returned to full public duties in February 2025 having announced that she had remission but had yet to make a formal international visit as part of her re-emergence, until she traveled to Italy with Prince William in May 2026 to mark a major state visit to the country.
Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to recognize and scale up innovative solutions to help heal the planet by 2030 with locations included the following;
2021-London, United Kingdom
2022-Boston, USA
2023-Singapore
2024-Cape Town, South Africa
2025-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Why India holds special significance for the Royal Couple.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have a personal and symbolic attachment to India, they visited India together in April 2016 on an official tour which lasted a week and included New Delhi, India, Mumbai, India, Kaziranga National Park, Assam and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
It was announced by Prince William earlier this year that Mumbai would host the sixth Earthshot Prize, due to taking the forefront in climate innovation and biodiversity; with over ten current award winners having come from India it is expected to be a highly attended event bringing together the worlds of climate leadership, investors and innovation to the capital of the country of the Indian nation.
