Prince William gives rare Kate cancer update as he praises 'amazing' wife

Prince William has given a rare update on Kate's cancer diagnosis in a touching tribute to his wife.

He was speaking ahead of the Earthshot Prize awards as he prepares to give millions of pounds to the winners in Cape Town tonight (6 November).

The Earthshot Prize searches the globe for game-changing innovations that will help us repair our planet, awarding the very best five solutions each year with £1 million to scale their work.

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The Prince of Wales issued a tribute to his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, who has just undergone chemotherapy treatment for the past eight months, describing her as "amazing".

He told reporters: "She's doing really well thanks. And hopefully she is watching tonight, so cheering me on. She's been amazing this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success."

Prince William explained that the Earthshot Prize awards encompass optimism as the planet enters a critical phase. He met the 15 finalists of his global environmental awards this morning at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens at the foot of the iconic Table Mountain, and told them "we are here for you".

Their planet saving solutions will be broadcast to an audience of millions tonight in Cape Town, which is being streamed live for the first time on YouTube. He said he had brought his children "along that journey" of being more aware of our role in saving the planet.

In an interview with British media, William told of his love for Africa and thanked South Africans for their "exuberance and energy" in hosting the fourth annual awards.

William spoke of his desire to focus on the next generation and said he is working on the basics of environmentalism with his children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine and Prince Louis, five. He said: "You know, every family tries to do what they can to sort of help with the environment.

“We go through all the basics of recycling and making sure we minimise water use and turning off lights when we leave the house and stuff like that, and making sure, which is sensible in what we do around the environment.

“And I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can."

Speaking about the scale of Earthshot, which is handing out five £1 million prizes over a decade for planet saving solutions, he said: "The Earthshot Prize has got to be a bit more global than that. We are trying to do big scale ambition and big scale business to tackle some of the solutions.

"But I brought the children along that journey and tonight I hope they are watching and they are proud of kind of what we are try to do here, which is to really galvanise that energy that enthusiasm to make real impact."

Ahead of hosting the awards ceremony tonight, Prince William thanked his hosts for the wonderful reception he has received this week.

He said: "I’ve been greatly looking forward to the time I can bring Earthshot to Africa. I love this continent.

"And spent many a year looking around exploring it. And just really thrilled to have the reception of the exuberance and energy that's going to be in this room tonight around Earthshot in South Africa."

While being in South Africa, the Prince of Wales has been spotted with a handmade bracelet. He has revealed it was a gift from Charlotte from their trip to see Taylor Swift in concert earlier this year.

He said: “Well, this is a relic, if you like, from a Taylor Swift concert that my daughter decided that she wanted to create a bracelet for. She gave it to me when I came away. So I promised that I would wear it and try not to lose it while I was out here."