November 09, 2023, 07:40 PM
Prince William said he tried "many amazing" foods in Singapore, but his favourite is chicken rice.
Chicken rice, very nice
The Prince of Wales appears to have done aplenty during his recently concluded four-day working visit around the island.
This includes dragon boating, and meeting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Istana.
@mothershipsg 🚣 Row row row your boat 🚣 Prince William participated in a friendly race with the paddlers and his team won #tiktoksg #sgnews#princewilliam #royalfamily ♬ original sound - Mothership
Of course, a trip to Singapore would not be complete without sampling some of our many local delicacies.
And it appears that Prince William understood the assignment.
When asked about what he has eaten in Singapore, the Prince revealed in a short clip on Instagram that the Singapore chicken rice has emerged as his top choice and is "probably his favourite".
Hiking with DPM Lawrence Wong
However, the Prince may still need some time to warm up to the king of fruits, durian, a detail that he shared during his leisurely walk in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve with Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Nov. 8 morning.
After visiting the TreeTop Walk, the Prince and DPM Wong were descending a flight of steps and approaching four youths at the Medang Hut, when the Prince joked: "Sorry, it took us a while, we’ve been chatting, and sweating, and doing a lot of walking."
The youths are representatives from the National Parks Board’s (NParks) Youth Stewards for Nature programme.
@mothershipsg Prince William & DPM Lawrence Wong went on a walk this morning at Macritchie Reservoir #tiktoksg #sgnews #princewilliam #royalfamily ♬ original sound - Mothership
Met young Singaporeans, disclosed he is not too fond of durians
The representatives consisting of Alexis Goh, Anusha Shivram, Muhd Nasry and Tay Li Si prepared a slide show.
They took turns sharing about their individual environmental conservation efforts with the Prince and DPM Wong.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Speaking to the media after, all four representatives said they were pleasantly surprised by the Prince's candidness and warmth.
While chatting with the representatives, the Prince was reminded of durians by a nearby jackfruit tree and candidly recounted about his experience with durians to one of the representatives Alexis Goh, 24.
Goh said while the Prince was "not too fond" of durian, she commended him for trying the world's most unique-smelling fruit.
Young Singaporeans' experience meeting the Prince
Anusha, 25, said they had a "nice conversation" with the Prince and commented that he was "very casual" and that helped to calm their nerves.
The Prince was curious about the Singaporean public and local environmental conservation.
Nasry, 24, recounted that the Prince wanted to find out what the Singaporean community were doing in terms of environmental conservation, what their opinions were like, and how these would translate in the future.
Tay, 26, said: "I'm really happy to share about the conservation efforts that we've been doing — be it organising youth events or going out to the field for research. I think there's a lot of great work being done in Singapore and I think it's a great opportunity to share about that.
Nasry said he is filled with "a lot of hope", knowing that the Prince supports green causes, which he said were "typically relegated to the sidelines in the national conversations on policy".
Image by Fyrol from Lawrence Wong/Facebook.
Meeting 2022 Earthshot Prize finalist
Prince William and DPM Wong also stopped by the Macaranga Hut for a chat with 2022 Earthshot Prize finalist Isabelle Lackman and two NParks' rangers Ryuta Teo and Han Xue Yi.
She is the co-founder of Hutan, which means "forest" in Malay, a research and conservation organisation based in Sabah, Malaysia that studies and monitors the impact of fragmented forests on the region’s biodiversity, such as wild orangutans.
Speaking to the media, Lackman shared that she has roped in villagers from the local community into her efforts, educating them and enlisting them in her 100-strong team.
Together, Lackman and her team have reconnected large swathes of the Kinabatangan natural forest fragmented due to human activities by erecting orangutan bridges for the namesake and other animals to cross.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Prince William and his entourage left Singapore on Nov. 8
After the hike, Prince William said in a same-day Instagram post that it was a pleasure to explore Singapore’s incredible TreeTop Walk with DPM Wong.
"What a fantastic place that takes you right to the heart of the rainforest, being cared for and protected by a brilliant team doing so much to restore our planet."
Similarly, DPM Wong said in his Facebook post that he was "glad to have met several young Singaporeans who are passionate about the environment".
He added the "long hike" with the Prince was a good chance to chat about their shared global challenge of climate change, and how everyone can do their part to strengthen sustainability efforts.
DPM Wong also bade Prince William au revoir in his post and wished him and his team a safe journey back to the United Kingdom.
The Prince departed Singapore on Nov. 8, 2023.
What the prince had been up to in Singapore
The Prince arrived on our sunny shores on Nov. 5, where he greeted hundreds of people at the Jewel Changi Airport.
He was in Singapore primarily for the Earthshot Prize.
The Earthshot Prize was founded by Prince William and UK-based charity The Royal Foundation in 2020, and is a 10-year-long global environmental prize held annually.
Into its third year now, the 2023 Earthshot Prize selected one winner each from five categories, each walking away with £1 million (S$1.67 million) to scale up their environmental solutions.
On Nov. 7 morning, the Prince met with 15 Earthshot Prize finalists below the iconic Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay.
He wished the finalists the best of luck for the awards ceremony that was taking place later in the evening.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Image by Fiona Tan.
Earthshot Prize held in Asia for the first time
A star-studded line-up of guests were seen on the awards ceremony's green carpet at the Theatre at Mediacorp.
This is the first time that the awards ceremony has been held in Asia.
The line-up included New Zealand's former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who joined the Board of Trustees at The Earthshot Prize in April 2023.
Robert Irwin, conservationist and son of the late Steven Irwin, presented one of the five awards of the evening.
Irwin was joined by Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen, who also presented one of the five awards.
Known for his role as "Ip Man" in the movie series of the same name, Yen was accompanied by his wife, Cissy Wang.
Five winners emerged that night and they were:
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- Build A Waste-Free World category: S4S Technologies
- Fix Our Climate category: California-headquartered soil carbon marketplace Boomitra
- Clean Our Air category: Hong Kong-based sustainable battery firm GRST
- Revive Our Oceans category: San Francisco-based wildlife conservation organisation WildAid
- Protect And Restore Nature category: Forest-restoration initiative Accion Andina, which is based in the Andes mountains
Top image by Alvin Philemon and Fiona Tan
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