Whatever your thoughts on monarchy, King Charles III has been a hugely vocal and consistent campaigner for nature. Long before we had even heard the term “climate crisis” or “sustainability,” he was pleading for a more eco-friendly approach. When he was just 22 years old, the fresh-faced Prince of Wales addressed the Countryside in a 1970 conference to speak on what we’d now call “green issues.” He was often dismissed as a crazy eccentric who talked to his plants. But as we’ve all collectively caught up with these ideas, Great Britain’s newly minted monarch has looked prophetic.
As the heir to the throne, he could campaign tirelessly about these issues. As monarch he is constitutionally obliged to be impartial but he’s likely to still wield some soft power, setting an example as he has done for decades on royal estates and through national programs. Protecting nature is, he believes, a moral duty, above any political wranglings.
Photography by Clare Coulson, unless otherwise noted.
Highgrove, the King’s beloved country house in the Cotswolds, has acted as a test bed for sustainable gardening. When he bought the house in 1980, he set about implementing all his ideas on nature and horticulture. He tasked Dame Miriam Rothschild with creating wildflower meadows, including the famous swathe of vivid blue camassias that frame the grassland up to the house.
And that passion has now extended to the royal parks, with areas given over to meadow planting and grasses allowed to grow longer in a boost to biodiversity. He understands the potent social and therapeutic benefits of everyone having access to outdoor space. There have even been whispers of a green belt across central London joining up Green Park, the 39 acres of walled garden around Buckingham Palace, along with Hyde Park to create a nature corridor. The Palace’s garden alone is one of the most biodiverse in London and also houses the national collection of mulberry trees.
Trees are another passion that has inspired national planting programs. For the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012, six million trees were planted to mark her 60 years on the throne. For this year’s platinum jubilee a similar scheme was launched—the Queen’s Green Canopy, to plant one million trees across Great Britain in any green space from private gardens to public parks and community spaces.
