Prince Charles may have been one of the world’s most vocal environmentalists, but King Charles III likely won’t be able to speak as candidly.
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday marking the end of her 70-year reign, Prince Charles, her first-born son, immediately took the throne and the name King Charles III, in accordance with British royal succession.
But by the new regent’s own admission, there is a world of difference between being a king and being a prince. In spite of his record as an outspoken champion of environmental issues, King Charles III implied long before taking the throne that not even he could make an activist king a reality.
In a 2018 interview with the BBC, then-Prince Charles said that as king, he would have to begin acting within “constitutional parameters” that would not permit him to be as opinionated and vocal as he has been in the past.
Asked at the time whether he would continue his public campaigning as monarch, the future king responded bluntly.
“No, it won’t. I’m not that stupid,” he said.
The activist prince
The former Prince of Wales has been warning the U.K. and the world about climate change and biodiversity loss for most of his life, and for the better part of that time, has been roundly ridiculed by the public for it, with Britons routinely mocking him for hugging trees and talking to his plants.
But his warnings proved prescient, and Charles’ profile rose to become a prominent voice in the global environmental and sustainability movement. He opened an offshore wind farm in Scotland, for example. And in 2020, the Prince even gave a special address at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he described how he views the various environmental crises threatening the world.
“Global warming, climate change and the devastating loss of biodiversity are the greatest threats humanity has ever faced,” Charles said at the time.
In a roundtable…