The King has spoken about the criticism he faced for his environmental campaigning, saying in a new documentary that he “wasn’t going to be diverted” from his climate mission.
The 90-minute film called Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, is set to be released by Amazon next week, and looks back at Charles’s Harmony philosophy and lifelong commitment to green issues.
The documentary, which feels like a heavy bid to bring his decades of work to a new global audience, was made in close collaboration with his charity The King’s Foundation for Amazon MGM Studios.
In new footage, King Charles is filmed watching some of his most passionate speeches from over the years, saying “I just felt this was the approach that I was going to stick to. A course I set and I wasn’t going to be diverted from.”
He also appears reflective about his own mortality at times, but also more restrained with his comments than he may have been in the past.
After an academic comments that the world is not on the “trajectory” needed to limit the worst effects of climate change, Charles remarks: “It’s rapidly going backwards, I’ve said that for the last 40 years, but anyway, there we are…
“I can only do what I can do, which is not very much – anyway”, he said, adding: “Maybe, by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil, there might be a little more awareness… of the need to bring things back together again.”
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The documentary interestingly reminds us of key moments where he was accused of overstepping the mark when he was Prince of Wales.
On topics like organic farming, his criticisms of architecture, or even his admission that he talked to plants – a comment that the programme voiceover by actress Kate Winslet says “haunted him” because of the response in the press.
It feels intriguing that a programme, made in such close collaboration with one of the King’s charities and the palace, would want to remind us of a time when Charles was so heavily criticised.
But he also isn’t questioned very heavily and there are no new interviews included with those critical of his style of leadership.
It is very much his documentary, and feels like a legacy building project.
With a heavy emphasis on the environmental message and the story of how the world’s response to the climate crisis has changed, this isn’t your classic royal documentary.
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But there are some lighter moments with more personal insights.
Charles is seen collecting eggs from his chickens at their “Cluckingham Palace” coop on his Highgrove estate, and reveals his love of a crispy baked potato, declaring that “red Duke of Yorks” are the best variety for this.
Throughout the documentary we are reminded that this is a man who is deeply spiritual about our connection to the natural world.
And some might say he has been ahead of his time, with so many now promoting the benefits of time in nature, including his own son and daughter in law, the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The film, the first to receive a movie premiere at a royal residence, is also the King’s first documentary with a streaming platform.
A less traditional approach which shows a desire to reach a wider global audience, especially when now, as King and head of state, he is more limited in what he can publicly say.
