Prince William presented three conservation awards in London on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, recognizing people whose work to protect African wildlife often takes place far from cameras and red carpets. The Prince of Wales attended the Tusk Conservation Awards at Raffles London at The OWO wearing a red poppy for Armistice Day. His cousins, Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza Spencer, were among the guests. But the most important stories of the evening belonged to the recipients.
The honors went to Dr. Colleen Begg for her long-standing work in Mozambique, Kenyan conservationist Raabia Hawa for defending wildlife and ecosystems, and ranger leader Daniel Yiankere for his work at Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya. The awards recognize three different kinds of conservation leadership, from decades of scientific work to environmental legal action and protecting threatened animals on the ground.
Featured photograph: Community conservation rangers on the Tana River in Kenya, photographed in 2017. Photo: Athuman Komora Garisse / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. This is a contextual photograph, not a photograph of the awards ceremony or the three recipients.
Who won the 2026 Tusk Conservation Awards?
The three recipients
Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa: Dr. Colleen Begg, co-founder of the Niassa Lion Project, Mozambique
Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa: Raabia Hawa, founder of the Ulinzi Africa Foundation, Kenya
Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award: Daniel Yiankere, security manager at Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya
Names and awards based on HELLO!’s ceremony reporting, PA’s captioned presentation photograph, and Tusk’s official 2026 recipient information.
Dr. Colleen Begg: a lifetime devoted to lions and communities
Dr. Colleen Begg received the Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa, a lifetime-achievement honor. A captioned Press Association photograph shows William presenting the award to the co-founder and director of the Niassa Lion Project in Mozambique. The project’s work concerns large carnivore conservation and the communities living alongside wildlife.
For readers accustomed to seeing Africa’s wildlife represented only by dramatic safari photography, that work is a reminder that conservation also involves field research, local relationships and long-term solutions to conflicts between people and animals. Tusk’s award recognizes the persistence required to sustain that effort over many years.
Raabia Hawa: protecting Kenya’s coast through the courts
Raabia Hawa, the founder and director of the Ulinzi Africa Foundation, received the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa. Her rangers work in Kenya’s Tana Delta-Lamu landscape, an area of wetlands, mangroves and other habitats. The charity highlights her work pursuing wildlife crime through the courts, including cases involving destructive fishing and proposed mining.
A detailed original interview in The Times traces her decision to enter conservation to witnessing the aftermath of elephant poaching in 2009. Tusk says Hawa has helped strengthen protection for the coastal topi, an endangered antelope, whose numbers in one local stronghold have risen from roughly 33 to more than 300. These are conservation outcomes attributed to the organizations and reporting, not measurements independently undertaken by Royally Inspired.
Hawa’s story broadens the familiar picture of a wildlife ranger. Protecting animals can mean patrolling on foot, challenging commercial interests, working with women and communities and making sure environmental laws have practical force.
Daniel Yiankere: protecting rhinos at Loisaba
Daniel Yiankere, security manager at Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya, received the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award. HELLO! reports that he has worked as a ranger for about 30 years, including at Loisaba since 2017. It credits him and his team with supporting the conservancy’s anti-poaching record and the return of 21 critically endangered eastern black rhinos.
Those rhinos were relocated to Loisaba as part of a carefully managed recovery effort, an undertaking documented by Associated Press reporting. The animals had disappeared from the central Kenyan plateau decades earlier because of poaching. Their return demonstrates why the field work of conservation rangers matters beyond the awards ceremony.
Why recognizing rangers matters
The work can involve protecting habitats, preventing poaching, resolving conflicts between people and wildlife, and supporting local communities.
In reporting from the event, the Press Association cited at least 565 African rangers killed in the line of duty since 2011.
Tusk says the 2026 awards collectively invest £225,000 in winners’ organizations, helping fund conservation work beyond the ceremony. Official awards information.
What William said about hope and hard work
William used the occasion to argue that progress in wildlife conservation is possible, even when the work is dangerous. The Press Association’s account of his remarks pointed to upward trends for mountain gorillas and gains for black rhinos and some elephant populations. He also warned against allowing organized wildlife crime to reverse that progress.
The awards fit into William’s longer public commitment to conservation as Tusk’s royal patron. They are distinct from his Earthshot Prize, which supports wider environmental innovations; the Tusk Awards focus on individual conservationists and rangers whose work is already making a difference across Africa.
Behind the Royal Headlines: what different outlets emphasized
The contrast in coverage of the evening is revealing. HELLO!’s account prominently describes William’s arrival, his tuxedo and the appearance of the Spencer sisters, while also naming the award recipients and summarizing their achievements. Marie Claire’s feature leans further toward the twins’ fashion and their family connection to Princess Diana.
The Press Association’s original presentation photograph instead puts William and Dr. Begg together onstage, documenting the actual award. An earlier Times interview spends time with Hawa and the risks behind her work. These are differences in the specific pieces we reviewed, not evidence of an outlet-wide editorial policy.
There is room for the fashion, the family photographs and the occasion’s ceremonial appeal. But focusing on the winners gives the story its lasting meaning.
See the evening through the original coverage
Onstage presentation: View PA Wire’s photograph of William presenting Dr. Begg’s award. Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Wire/dpa; the original publisher retains reproduction rights.
Royal arrivals and Spencer family: View HELLO!’s event photographs and coverage. Getty Images retains rights to the event photographs.
Conservationist’s own story: Read Tusk’s profile of Raabia Hawa with original conservation context.
For more of William’s environmental work, read our coverage of his Country Life reporting on women in the military and our Royal Diary for the week’s verified royal engagements.
Sources
Tusk Conservation Awards, 2026; Tusk: Raabia Hawa profile; PA Wire ceremony photograph and caption; Press Association ceremony reporting; HELLO!’s event reporting; The Times’ interview with Hawa.
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