Prince William has seemingly poached a charity partner of Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation for his prestigious environmental awards. José Andrés, a U.S.-based restauranteur and celebrated humanitarian, is today announced as the newest member of the Prince of Wales' Earthshot Prize Council.

He will join its team of high-profile advisors and influencers, who will chose the five winners of this years high-profile awards designed to scale up some of the most innovative solutions to the global environmental crisis. Intriguingly, Andrés has also teamed up since 2020 with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex through his World Central Kitchen project, which provides food relief in crisis zones around the world, including building a community relief centre in India during the Covid crisis.

World Central Kitchen (WCK) previously described its work with their Archewell non-profit foundation as an 'ongoing philanthropic partnership'. Archewell also highlighted their 'shared mission to support 'more compassionate, strong and healthy communities'. 

The chef enjoyed such a close relationship with the Sussexes that Meghan donated her 'signature' recipe for lemon oil cake to Andrés' charity cookbook early last year. In 2021 Meghan also sent a cake made with lemons from the gardens of her Montecito mansion to a WCK project in Chicago.

And in an interview the following year, the chef waxed lyrical about his 'friends', telling People magazine: 'I love them.' He added that he had personally spent time working with the couple. Now, however, he has thrown his weight behind Prince William's passion project, which already boasts Sir David Attenborough amongst its supporters. It is not clear whether he is still working with Archewell and there was no immediate comment from WCK to confirm.

The chef is one of three 'influential' environment champions to be nominated to the Earthshot Prize Council and will join the future king and Sir David in choosing this year's winners, who will each be awarded £1 million ($1.4million) prize money to help expand their work. In a statement he said: 'I am thrilled to join the Earthshot Prize Council to help showcase the changemakers pushing the boundaries of innovation and ingenuity around the world. In good times and hard times, I've seen firsthand the power of food to heal and unite communities. Food is the best way to address some of the planet's most pressing challenges, and I firmly believe that we must transform our food systems to be more sustainable and equitable. There is so much we can do to inspire the world to see food as a powerful tool for creativity and change, and Earthshot solutions are at the forefront of this movement.'

Earthshot also announced yesterday the appointment of its first global ambassadors: conservationist Robert Irwin, son of the late Steve Irwin, and actress Nomzamo Mbath. CEO Hannah Jones said Andrés dedication and expertise would strengthen the council's ability to champion innovative climate solutions. The chef, twice named one of Time Magazine's '100 most influential people' and lauded for his humanitarian work since founding WCK in 2010, had attended an Earthshot innovation summit for previous winners in New York with William last September - hinting at what was to come.

The prince will not be attending the the same event this year due to other commitments - no bad thing as his estranged brother, Prince Harry, will be in the city at the same time for a number of high profile public appearances as part of climate week. He will also lead an event for the Diana Award, a charity set up in memory of the princes' late mother.

Instead William plans to focus on Earthshot's fourth annual awards ceremony, which will take place in Cape Town in November. The brothers have not spoken for the best part of two years, their rift exacerbated by Harry's repeated public attacks on his family, William in particular. Reports have recently suggested, however, that Duke of Sussex is now keen to reconcile with his family.

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