Everyone's obsessed with Prince William slamming billionaire space race

Prince William has criticised entrepreneurs and billionaires who have turned their attention to exploring space rather than tackling climate change on Earth.

Speaking to the BBC's Newscast series ahead of the Earthshot Prize Awards this weekend, the Duke of Cambridge said that "great brains and minds should be trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."

The 39-year-old Royal highlighted the growing "climate anxiety" amongst younger generations whose "futures are basically threatened the whole time." To tackle the problem, he went on to urge adults to channel their inner child, and "remember how much it meant to be outdoors and what we're robbing those future generations of."

William also stressed how "crucial" it is that we "focus on this [planet] rather than giving up and heading out into space to try and think of solutions for the future."

Finally, the Duke added that "it would be an absolute disaster if [Prince] George is sat here talking" about saving the planet in the decades to come – in much the same way that he is taking on an environmental advocacy role like his father, Prince Charles, and his grandfather, Prince Philip.

William pointed out how his dad has faced a "rough ride" through his years of raising awareness about climate change, adding: "It's been a hard road for him." He also highlighted how his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, had been an inspiration to them all on the topic, explaining that he "talked about climate change a lot more, very early on, before anyone else thought it was a topic."

His comments have been welcomed by members of the public, who took to social media to praise the Duke for speaking up on such an important matter. "Well done Prince William for speaking out against space travel. There is only one planet we can live on and space travel is so costly. Financially and environmentally," said one Twitter user, as someone else wrote, "I don't always agree with the Royal Family, but I absolutely agree with this. Blasting the wealthy, privileged and famous into space at a time of an impending #ClimateCrisis is galling to say the least."

A third Royal fan added "Some sanity from Prince William," as another tweeted: "Well said that, Prince. I totally agree."

The Duke's comments come after Hollywood actor William Shatner became the oldest person to go to space, as he joined the Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule developed by billionaire Jeff Bezos (who founded Amazon). Like Bezos, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are also working on their own space tourism businesses.

And on that note, we'll leave you with this...

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