Media Availability: UNH British Historian to Comment on Royal Visit to Boston

DURHAM, N.H.—Prince William and Kate Middleton are both expected to make the trip across the pond for the second annual Earthshot Prize ceremony which will be held in Boston. Nicoletta Gullace, associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, and an expert on the royal family, is available to talk about the significance of the trip and what this means for the monarchy as well as for the city of Boston.

Gullace can be reached at [email protected]. 

“While Earthshot and the environment are passion projects for the royals and choosing Boston puts the spotlight on the city’s work around climate change, this will be the first time the Prince and Princess of Wales have traveled to the United States since the passing of Queen Elizabeth and, as William has said, protecting the environment was a cause close to his grandmother’s heart” said Gullace.

Gullace, who is an expert in 20th century and modern British history, says Earthshot is a decade-long initiative by the royals to find innovative solutions to the Earth’s most pressing issues which include climate change and air pollution. However, there is also chatter about this U.S. trip being a chance to rebuild their popularity since the very public break with Prince Harry and wife Megan Markle. Right now, there is no planned visit between the two brothers. The focus is expected to be on the ceremony. The couple is reportedly excited to come to Boston and see an “inspiring” city.

“The Earthshot Prize awards will be front and center, but this visit will certainly represent a shift from the old guard to a younger more modern monarchy with new values and attitudes and now that the queen is gone, the world will continue to look for signs of this change,” said Gullace.

The second Earthshot Prize awards were inspired by President John F Kennedy and his goal of landing on the moon by the end of the 1960s, known as Moonshot. The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. A Carnegie Classification R1 institution, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and received $260 million in competitive external funding in FY21 to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.

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