King Charles III secretly recorded a podcast episode with Cate Blanchett at Windsor Castle.
Recording the Sunday, October 19, episode of “Unearthed” at a table in the castle’s gardens in July, the king, 76, was interviewed about his role as Kew’s Patron and work in opening the Millenium Seed Bank in 2000. (Kew, England, is home to the World Heritage Site of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Millenium Seed Bank is the world’s largest seed bank which works to safeguard global biodiversity, per the Kew Gardens website.)
Interviewed by Blanchett, 56, who serves as Kew’s ambassador for a nature reserve in Wakehurst, England, as well as Dr Elinor Breman, a senior research leader in seed conservation, the king spoke about his passion for the natural world and conservation.
The new recording comes after he featured in the March podcast, “The Music Room playlist from His Majesty King Charles III,” and shared a few of his favorite songs.
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In “Unearthed,” the king, who spends significant time at Windsor Castle despite currently residing at Clarence House in London with Queen Camilla, said he opened the Millenium Seed Bank after realizing “how important” an initiative it was.
He said his involvement began by “rescuing all the heritage vegetables … and fruit and plants and everything,” before his work expanded. “I just felt it was critical to keep the balance always … because we may need them at a later stage, don’t throw them away. It was quite difficult.”
The podcast detailed that the Millenium Seed Bank has managed to bank 85 percent of the U.K.’s threatened flora and that the initiative is now trying to capture more “genetic diversity.”
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The king said, “I keep trying to provide homes for lots of these sorts of things,” before he spoke about the regeneration of Windsor Castle’s private gardens.
“That’s a real labor of love,” Blanchett, 56, remarked, leading the king to explain, “Thanks, I’ve been making more beds, I’ve marked them all out … and more trees. Trying to keep them going is the problem.
The king is set to explore more of his advocacy of our natural work in an upcoming documentary for Prime Video titled, “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision.” The project was announced on October 8, with the king stating at the time, “Nature is our sustainer — we are part of nature. Therefore, what we do to her, we do to ourselves. For much of my life, I have sought to promote and encourage ways we can work with, rather than against nature. In other words, to restore balance to our planet which is under such stress.”
The announcement of the project, which is set to be released in early 2026, came right after the king and Prince William stepped out together at the Countdown to COP30 event on October 9 at London’s Natural History Museum.
The father-and-son duo are rumored to be experiencing tension after several outlets claimed of a strained relationship in light of the Prince of Wales, 43, speaking out about the monarchy on Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveler series for Apple TV, which premiered earlier this month.
“I think it’s safe to say that change is on my agenda. Change for good. And I embrace that and I enjoy that change — I don’t fear it,” William said on the show at the time. “That’s the bit that excites me, is the idea of being able to bring some change. Not overly radical change, but changes that I think that need to happen.”
