Will King Charles be as green as Prince Charles?

Charles III
was formally proclaimed the King of the United Kingdom on Saturday, September
10. Charles, always concerned about environmental issues plaguing the world, and
has been talking about risks of warming for decades. The then-Prince of Wales warned
of the dangers of pollution back in the 1970s. Now, when he is king at the age
of 73, there is speculation and wonderment about whether Britain will now have
a green king.

In a famous
1970s speech, Prince Charles, speaking from the Countryside Steering Committee
for Wales, said, “We are faced at this with the horrifying effects of pollution
in all its cancerous forms. There is the growing menace of oil pollution at
sea, which almost destroys beaches and certainly destroys thousands of sea
birds.”

“There is
chemical pollution discharged into rivers from factories and chemical plants,
which clogs up the rivers with toxic substances and adds to the filth in the
seas. There is air pollution from smoke and fumes discharged by factories and
from gases pumped out by endless cars and aeroplanes,” he said.

Green before
it became cool

Charles, as
prince, has always advocated policies for the protection of the environment. He
is said to have been concerned about the environment from a very young age, a
Guardian report said. In the 1980s, he started farming in his Gloucestershire
estate. He also initiated regenerative organic agriculture, which eventually
led to the Dutchy organic brand.

Even
recently, ahead of CoP26, Charles laid out Terra Carta, a charter of environmental
goals. He has also, on rare occasions, spoken against the UK government,
triggering anger among members of the government and members of the public for
going beyond his constitutional mandate.

Testing
constitutional limits

An example
of this was when Charles, in association with Jonathan Porritt, the former head
of the Green party and Friends of the Earth, spoke against UK dumping sewage
into the North Sea. The then environment secretary Nicholas Ridley was livid,
according Porritt who then spoke to the Guardian. “He was furious that the
Prince of Wales had chosen to use his profile in Europe to fire a broadside –
though he [Charles] did not name anyone in government.”

Charles was
criticised for apparently overstepped the bounds of constitutional monarchy.

Will
Charles as king be any different?

Charles’
supporters say he has always drawn the lines very carefully. “He has managed
this skilfully, within the bounds of his constitutional role,” according to
Porritt. In 2013, Charles said, “the confirmed sceptics” and the “international
association of corporate lobbyists” were responsible for the earth being a
dying patient.