Prince William is turning into a world ruler, the palace said ahead of a trip to South Africa

The Prince of Wales is turning into a “world official”, a palace spokesman said, ahead of a meeting with the South African president.

Prince William will sit down with Cyril Ramaphosa and the foreign secretary, David Lammy, and his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola, in what has been called a “high-level engagement” that will help strengthen the “very important” relationship between the two countries.

The meeting comes ahead of the fourth annual Earthshot Awards, which will be hosted by the Prince in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.

A spokesman for Kensington Palace said: “Another example of William's emergence as a world politician, as we have seen, is whether he represented his father in Kuwait last year, or indeed, when he sat with 15 other world leaders on D Day earlier this year.”

He described the meetings the Prince held with the leaders of each country that has hosted the Earthshot Awards, including US President Joe Biden in Boston in 2022, as the “golden thread” of each visit.

“It is really important that the Earthshot Award goes to all four corners of the world,” he added.

“But having that relationship with the head of state, thanking them for their work, helping us promote the Earthshot Prize, and that urgent hope, is very important to the Prince.

“The UK's relationship with South Africa is very important.”

Antony Phillipson, the British High Commissioner to South Africa, said the Prince's visit had led to “high-level discussions” between the two countries since South Africa's national elections in May this year.

“We see this as a follow-up to the November 2022 state visit which we continue to see here as a historic moment in the UK and South Africa, as the first state visit hosted by the King of the Churches, the fourth country. a visit hosted by the former Queen or the future King of South Africa,” he added.

“The president himself feels that he has a connection with the King, and obviously, William is the future king.”

Mr Lammy's visit to Cape Town provides an opportunity to do “hard policy work”, said Mr Phillipson. It also shows that he is willing to strengthen relations with South Africa before the G20 summit, which will be held in this country next year.

“It shows that you are here because you want to be here,” he added.

The meeting comes after Mr Ramaphosa chose to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was hosted by Silo in Samoa last month, in favor of the annual meeting of the Kremlin-led BRICS group, chaired by Vladimir Putin in Kazan, central Russia.

The Prince will begin his four-day tour in Cape Town on Monday with more than 100 young environmentalists from across Africa and South East Asia participating in the Earthshot youth programme.

On Monday, the Prince will present a series of programs aimed at five-year-old children as it has been revealed that 2,000 young people entered the Earthshot Blue Peter competition.

Children aged five to 15 were invited to submit an idea aimed at achieving five “Earthshots”, ambitious environmental goals established by the Earthshot Prize.

As the Prince seeks to build a legacy that extends beyond his visit, he will also announce next week a welfare package for wildlife workers that aims to support more than 10,000 people over five years.

The move follows the death of Anton Mzimba, 42, a former “incorruptible” security guard who was shot dead by criminals in his home in 2022, a few months after he reported to Prince William about how organized crime had infiltrated rhino poaching in South Africa.

The Prince was so sad that he made a large private donation to support Mzimba's family.