HRH Prince Philip pledged his ongoing support to Portland’s MEMO project as he hosted a star-studded dinner at Buckingham Palace.

The Duke of Edinburgh hosted the meal at the palace for MEMO and the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation as the two organisations continue to work together to raise awareness of biodiversity loss in the natural world and animal species facing extinction MEMO, which works in collaboration with the E.O Wilson Biodiversity Foundation in the USA, is an educational charity based on Portland which aims to educate people about mass extinctions and to inspire people to help protected species.

During the evening Prince Philip, who is also the founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), delivered a speech describing the need for action to protect the natural world.

He gave his backing to the MEMO project, describing it as a “powerful and imaginative” tool for communicating the issues to a wider audience.

Harvard Professor and world famous biologist Ed Wilson, founder of the biodiversity foundation, has been acting on behalf of MEMO this week and was guest of honour at the palace.

He said: “The evening at Buckingham Palace with Prince Philip was an extraordinary event for all those attending. “It threw much-needed light on the global problem of biodiversity extinction, and gained important support for MEMO as a new idea toward the solution.”

The event was also attended by an impressive guest list of MEMO supporters including Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford, founder of the Eden Project Sir Tim Smit, television and film actress Miranda Richardson, naturalist Steve Backshall and famous architect David Adjaye.

Professor Wilson concluded the evening’s speeches and told the meeting of everyone’s responsibility to future generations to preserve the biosphere, and spoke passionately about the global value of MEMO and described it as the “Magna Carta” of the modern age.

Speaking after the event, Sir Tim Smit said: “The high spot for me was an unguarded moment in Prince Philip's speech when he paused and said: ‘We can’t go and live on Mars, this is our speck in the universe and there's only one. What are we thinking of allowing it to be damaged?’

“It was powerful and poignant, and a call to action.”

It was one of a series of awareness-raising events for Professor Wilson and MEMO.