Prince William's New Partnership Is a Win in Harry and Meghan Rivalry

Prince William will visit New York for a star-studded summit promoting his Earthshot Prize—alongside one of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's key celebrity friends.

José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, was a major early partner for Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation. They teamed up to provide 50,000 meals to people in need around the world between 2020 and 2022.

Now Prince William has landed Andrés as one of several high-profile guests at his Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in New York on September 19.

The extent of the royal sibling rivalry was laid bare in Harry's book Spare, which said William felt "Africa was his thing," meaning Harry should not do charity work there and they "almost came to blows" over the dispute.

José Andrés at the Earthshot Summit

The celebrity chef will host a panel discussion, while other guests at the event include Jacinda Ardern—who was also once courted by the Sussexes but is now a trustee for William's prize.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy and the current U.S. ambassador to Australia, will also be there after Harry and Meghan were previously recipients of an award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation.

RFK's daughter, Kerry Kennedy, appeared to be the driving force behind that decision, suggesting there may be different perspectives on the royals within the wider Kennedy clan.

Andrés will chair a conversation between finalists of the 2022 Earthshot Prize, including Natasha Boulding, found of Low Carbon Materials; Jennifer Holmgren, chief executive of LanzaTech; and Brandon Ng, co-founder of Ampd Energy.

The talk, titled "Catalyzing Innovation," will "hear from the leading disruptors on how they are using diverse expertise and visionary creativity to address some of the most pressing global challenges," according to publicity material.

Harry and Meghan's Partnership with World Central Kitchen

Harry and Meghan announced they had teamed up with Andrés in December 2020, eight months into their new American lives.

A relief center, the building of which was already been underway, was then opened in Dominica two months later with their financial support.

The importance of WCK to Archewell was highlighted in its 2020-22 report, which read: "In one of our earliest partnerships, AWF and Chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen (WCK) established a joint philanthropic partnership in service of strengthening local communities around the world through the power of food.

"We supported efforts at the frontlines of climate disasters, including Puerto Rico and Dominica.

"AWF's support also benefited WCK's relief work throughout the world, which included emergency food relief due to floods, fires, earthquakes, and the invasion of Ukraine."

Andrés has also previously been effusive in his support of Harry and Meghan and is quoted in the Archewell report, released in January 2023.

"Harry and Meghan, my dear friends," he said, "you bring hope to each and every community you touch, always with a smile, always with empathy and through your partnership with World Central Kitchen, sometimes a hot plate of food that shows people in need how much we care."

In March it was announced Meghan has a recipe for lemon cake in Andrés' book The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope.

He was listed as a partner on the Archwell impact report and also got a $300,000 Archewell grant last year so it may well be that he is still working with Harry and Meghan and but also wants to work with William too.

However, the picture Harry painted of William's attitude to their working lives suggests a charged atmosphere around any overlap in areas of focus.

Prince William's Territorial Relationship With Harry

In Spare, Harry described how in 2015 he wanted to pursue two main career paths, his Invictus Games tournament for veterans and philanthropy in Africa.

He wrote: "One small problem: Willy. Africa was his thing, he said. And he had the right to say this, or felt he did, because he was the Heir. It was ever in his power to veto my thing, and he had every intention of exercising, even flexing, that veto power."

"One day, we almost came to blows in front of our childhood mates, the sons of Emilie and Hugh [van Cutsem].

"One of the sons asked: 'Why can't you both work on Africa?' Willy had a fit, flew at this son for daring to make such a suggestion.

"'Because rhinos, elephants, that's mine!' It was all so obvious. He cared less about finding his purpose or passion than about winning his lifelong competition with me."

William's New York visit takes him onto Harry and Meghan's stomping ground both in the sense that they are U.S.-based and also because they have visited New York more than any other part of America.

However, he also appears to have forged bonds with several key figures in Harry and Meghan's line of sight as he builds the standing of Earthshot in America.

If polling of America for Newsweek is anything to go by though, William may well be winning the hearts and minds of the U.S. public.

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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