Prince William’s ‘outstanding’ conservation documentary is praised by royal fans

Prince William’s new ITV conservation documentary has been hailed by viewers as ‘outstanding’, with royal fans insisting Princess Diana ‘would be so proud’ of her son.

The Duke of Cambridge, 38, was praised by Twitter users for being ‘passionate’ but ‘not preachy’ in his programme Prince William: A Planet For Us All, which aired last night. 

Prince William was followed by cameras for two years travelling around the UK and to Pakistan and Tanzania as he embarked on a global mission to mobilise action for the natural world.

Explaining how having children Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, spurred him into taking action to help save the wildlife, the duke also shared three unseen photographs of his youngsters during the documentary.

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Following the programme, viewers were quick to suggest how proud the late Princess Diana would be of her son Prince William.

‘William is just like Diana. He is so diplomatic in this documentary, only showing the good work all can do without lectures or preachers,’ one person wrote. 

Another said: ‘The beautiful Princess Diana would be incredibly proud of her son William and also Harry. She is greatly missed.’

A third added: ‘Prince William brings a sense of wonderment and joy to the natural beauty we all take for granted… Diana would be so proud.’

Others praised the duke for appearing ‘incredibly passionate’, with one person adding: ‘Prince William coming across as… kind and informed.’ 

‘Prince William makes me so proud! He is going to make an amazing King one day, and it makes me so happy to see him so passionate about helping make a difference in this world,’ another wrote.

Elsewhere, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis appeared during the documentary via three new pictures, which showed them enjoying the outdoors.

In the candid images, Prince Louis could be seen playing in the sand with a bright blue bucket, while Prince George held a spade, and Princess Charlotte helped to plant a flower.

After being quizzed by children at All Saints Catholic Primary School in Liverpool about his youngsters, Prince William admitted that Prince George and Princess Charlotte were both ‘very cheeky’ and ‘as cheeky as each other.’ 

The school children were seen in the process of building a huge hotel to home bugs, which they named Bugingham Palace.  

After discussing the importance of the insects on the environment, the children were keen to quiz the duke about whether his two eldest children were cheeky and whether he was able to do the floss dance.

‘They’re about as cheeky as each other, they are very cheeky. Charlotte can floss, she can already floss at four,’ he said.

‘You don’t want to see me floss, Catherine can floss, but I can’t – it’s like a really horrible film to watch.’

Flossing is a dance move which involves swinging your hips and arms in different directions as if there is a piece of invisible dental floss between your legs. At the same time the hips must move to the beat while your arms are held in two fists.

Prince William also revealed how becoming a father ‘changed his outlook’ on saving endangered species in the programme.

During one visit to Tanzania’s Mkomazi National Park, the father-of-three explained how having children spurred him into taking action to help save the rhinos. 

He said: ‘Now I’ve got George, Charlotte, and now Louis. Your outlook does change and that’s why I had to do something because I really felt like by the time my children were 20, at the rate poaching was at, there may not have been another rhino in the world.’

The prince was filmed observing rhinos in their natural habitat and fed a carrot to one female named Deborah. 

‘I like Deborah a lot,’ he said. ‘I’ve never known a rhino to be called Deborah before.’

He continued: ‘They are a prehistoric, odd-looking creature but when you get to see their characters and you get to see the family bond they have with their mum, it does make you feel like you’re watching a close family unit.

‘The fact that they’re under so much threat is really quite sad. People might think of them as a big tank, a big hulk of an animal with a big horn but they are incredibly vulnerable.

‘They don’t have brilliant eyesight and people will take advantage of that. And they want this horn, which is effectively nail. That’s all it is, it’s fingernail.’

Getting close to one rhino, he added: ‘This is where the horn belongs, on a live rhino, and that’s where it should stay.’

Elsewhere, in stirring scenes filmed at a heavily guarded ivory facility in Tanzania in 2018, where 43,000 tusks with a street value of £50million were impounded, the father-of-three became visibly upset over fears for the future of elephants and rhinos.  

The royal said: ‘It’s a mind-blowing number of tusks, it really is. You can’t get your head around it.’ 

He also showed anguish over the rhino, which is facing extinction after being hunted for their horns which are used in some cultures for medicine.

In other scenes, the Duke said he feels it is his ‘duty’ to leave the planet in a stronger position for future generations. 

William said he wants to follow in the footsteps of Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh – who he said were ‘ahead of their time’ – so he didn’t let his children down.

He added: ‘My grandfather, my father have been in environmental work for many years.

‘My grandfather’s well ahead of his time. My father, ahead of his time. And I really want to make sure that, in 20 years, George doesn’t turn round and say, ‘are you ahead of your time?’ Because if he does, we’re too late.’

The duke also said the coronavirus crisis had given everyone a greater appreciation of the natural world. He added: ‘If there’s any ray of light from this, it is that it allows us to take stock and to refocus our priorities.’

The duke called on humanity to ‘speed the pace up’ and tackle the growing environmental threat to the planet.

Speaking in the new documentary, William suggested he expects to be criticised for his views, saying: ‘Someone has to put their head above the parapet and say, “I care about this.”‘

And he highlighted how the younger generation – who are typified by the teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg – are pushing for change and action on the issue.

‘What Greta’s done is really quite interesting,’ William said. ‘People were desperate for someone to come along. Thank goodness there’s somebody there with a young voice being active.

‘That generational gap has to be breached somehow so that the older political leaders understand that the younger generation mean business – they want their futures protected.’

William was filmed over the past two years in the UK and countries such as Pakistan and Tanzania for the ITV documentary.

In Pakistan’s Hindu Kush mountains, the duke and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge saw first hand the effects of climate change on glaciers which are melting at record speeds.

During the official tour last October, William told the documentary: ‘It’s a huge environmental and humanitarian disaster. And yet, we still don’t seem to be picking up the pace and understanding it quick enough. And I think the young are really getting it.

‘And the younger generation are really wanting more and more people to do stuff and want more action. And we’ve got to speed the pace up. We’ve got to get on top of it and we need to be more vocal and more educational about what’s going on.’