For decades, the Prince of Wales has been an eco champion – finally, the rest of the Firm is following suit.
The Royal family no longer contains just one eco-warrior. The whole family is now firmly camped on the frontline of the green wars that if they were a political party, they’d possibly qualify as single-issue. Look out Green Party, here come the Royal Greens. This, of course, is all good news as the royals, generally, remain high in the affections of the British public and their leadership on the matter of helping save the planet can only be applauded.
Take last week’s Royal media coverage, for instance. It began with Prince Charles revealing in a TV interview that he runs his 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Volante not on petrol, but “surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process”. Then, on Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex became partners at a “sustainable investment firm” in New York City.
On Thursday, the Duke of Cambridge spoke ahead of the inaugural Earthshot Prize – an initiative he set up with Sir David Attenborough to recognise inventive solutions to environmental problems, which yesterday at a grand gala in London unveiled its first winners of the £1m prizes for innovative climate solutions. Prince William even took a potshot at the Bezos, Branson and Musk space race, urging “the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live”.
The Queen, famously, never speaks her mind without careful consideration and, even then, only in very serious situations. So, she probably wasn't overly happy to have been overheard by the press last week, after opening the Senedd in Cardiff, huffing that world leaders attending the upcoming Cop26 climate change conference are all mouth and no trousers. “It’s really irritating when they talk but they don’t do,” she was heard saying. Don't we all agree? Sounded a bit like Greta Thunberg's "blah, blah, blah" comment from the week before.
Later this month, the Royal greens will descend en masse – the Queen, Princes Charles and William – on Glasgow for the Cop26 summit. They’ll be both the star attractions and the loudest voices. Hats off to them!