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Prince William and Prince Harry will go head-to-head in September as the royal brothers have major projects days apart.
William said this week he will visit America for a September 19 summit arranged alongside New York Climate Week and the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit, in New York City, will promote his flagship project, aimed at finding and funding solutions to climate change. The summit held its second annual gala in Boston in 2022.
The event will bring William onto Harry and Meghan's stomping ground, not only because it is in their home America, but also because they have visited New York more than any other part of the U.S. In fact, the couple have attended more high-profile, official functions in the city than their own state of California, where they have tended more towards low-key charity visits.
That means Prince William is courting publicity and influence in a part of America that is clearly important to the Sussexes, just as it was to William and Harry's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
It will also be a big month for Prince Harry, who takes his Invictus Games tournament for veterans to Germany between September 9 and 16.
And there may be some rivalry between the brothers, who will both want to make an impact, against the backdrop of historic jealousy that Harry says William felt in relation to Invictus.
Prince Harry and William's Sibling Rivalry Over Earthshot
In his memoir Spare, Harry describes mentioning Invictus to his brother at the point he first came up with the project: "Thrilled, I reached out to Willy, expecting him to be thrilled as well.
"He was sorely irritated," wrote Harry. "He wished I'd run all this by him first. My assumption, I said, was that other people had done so. He complained that I'd be using up all the funds in the Royal Foundation."
"What was going on here? I wondered," Harry added. "Then I realized: My God, sibling rivalry.
"I put a hand over my eyes. Had we not got past this yet? The whole Heir
versus Spare thing? Wasn't it a bit late in the day for that tired childhood
dynamic?
"But even if it wasn't, even if Willy insisted on being competitive, on turning
our brotherhood into some kind of private Olympiad, hadn't he built up an
insurmountable lead?" Harry wrote. "He was married, with a baby on the way, while I was
eating takeaway alone over the sink.
"Pa's sink! I still lived with Pa! Game over, man. You win."
Prince William's Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit
Prince William's Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit is partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies and will unveil finalists for the 2023 award.
The scheme awards £1 million (around $1.3 million) to winners in five different categories, each designed to find innovative solutions to the climate crisis.
Targeting the 78th session of the UN General Assembly is also interesting positioning. Harry and Meghan have also sought to use the United Nations as a springboard.
Harry spoke out against "weaponizing lies and disinformation" during a speech marking Nelson Mandela Day to the UN in July 2022, for example.
Kate Middleton, the new Princess of Wales, is not mentioned in the announcement, but doubtless royal fans will be hoping for her last-minute inclusion in husband William's plans.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more