Environment: the commitment of the English royal family

The world has the opportunity to unite in a common goal to create a safer and more stable future for our people and the planet on which we depend. History has taught us that when nations unite in a common cause, there is always room for hope. By working side by side we have the ability to solve the most insurmountable problems and triumph over the greatest adversities.

The Queen was speaking just a few months ago Elizabeth II in one of his last public speeches to the nation. It was November 1, 2021 and in those hours the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26, was starting in Glasgow, in his dear Scotland.

The official video message arrived two weeks after the circulation of a video, shot with a smartphone, in which Elizabeth II, during a visit to Cardiff for the opening of the Welsh Parliament together with the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, can be heard commenting on the upcoming COP26 in tones that were anything but flattering towards its participants: “I hear about the COP, but I still don’t know who’s coming” e “they speak, but they do not act“.

Statements that the royal family would have preferred to have remained private, but which do not appear so unusual for those who have always followed the history of Elizabeth II, a queen with calm tones and ways, often reluctant to take positions, especially on controversial issues. But always ready to thrash the politicians and members of parliament who followed one another during her 70-year reign.

Elizabeth II’s commitment to the environment: an awareness developed over time

Today environmental issues are increasingly at the center of the debate, but the commitment of Queen Elizabeth II on this front it has its roots since the first years of his reign, although at first in a more private way. Elizabeth II has never hidden her love for the environment and animals, starting with her trusty Corgis, and for nature more generally.

The merit of this attention to the environment, albeit with some contradictions linked to the historical period and with an increased awareness over the years, is also due to his wife Prince Philipthe Duke of Edinburgh, who already in 1969 had launched into declarations of important value:

If global pollution is not at a critical point at the moment, it is certain that the situation will become intolerable within a short time. If we fail in this challenge, all other problems will become insignificant.

The Queen’s (and now King Charles III’s) bees

In a historical period in which we are increasingly aware of the importance of bees for the global ecosystem, with growing alarm linked to their decline year after year, the English Royal Family has always continued to carry on traditional beekeeping linked to the residences royals, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Balmoral Castle where Elizabeth II retired to spend the last months of her life.

A tradition born long before Elizabeth II, but which the late sovereign continued with great passion. Today there are 5 hives in Buckingham Palace, two Clarence House hives and an unspecified number between the Balmoral and Sandringham residences.

Official sources speak of at least one million bees in the summer period. The production of honey linked to these hives has always been able to satisfy the honey needs of the royal residences, while the excess production it is sold and donated.

These days, right after the passing of Elizabeth IIa tradition that very few knew was confirmed: the royal family’s official beekeeper, John Chapple, had to notify the royal bees of the queen’s death and communicate to them the appointment of King Charles III.

One of the most unusual royal protocols, also linked to superstition: not informing the bees of the change of “master”, Chapple explained to the British press, could lead the specimens to stop producing honey for the new “master” or, even, to leave the hives or die. There is no scientific basis, but who are we to criticize a tradition that, to date, has always brought benefits?

Elizabeth II’s love for nature and the environment (and passion for gardening)

All the residences linked to the British royal family have continued the tradition of the English garden in recent times, hosting flora and fauna arriving from all over the world. These green corners of paradise have been the jewels of the United Kingdom and beyond for centuries, small ecosystems protected and respected by the entire royal family.

The large garden surrounding the Balmoral residence so dear to Elizabeth II was started in 1852 under the supervision of Prince Albert and improved over the decades by all subsequent members of the royal family.

The gardens of Mey Castle, however, were expanded thanks to the intervention of the Queen Mother, while those of Highgrove are closely linked to King Charles III and are today considered among the most innovative and inspired in the United Kingdom.

And what about the wonderful garden of Buckingham Palace? It extends for almost 17 hectares and is home to 350 different types of wild flowers, 85 species of oak trees and 45 types of mulberry trees, but it is also home to over 30 species of nesting birds.

From private to public: when Elizabeth II clearly embraced environmental problems

If in private the Queen has never hidden her passion for greenery and respect for the environment – there are numerous stories that speak of a sovereign attentive to consumption and oriented towards reuse and recycling – there was a moment in which Elizabeth II publicly embraced environmental causes.

The year 2000 had just begun when the Queen mentioned the topic for the first time in a speech before the United Nations. Then it was the turn of the message on the occasion of Commonwealth Day and, again, the Christmas speech to the citizens.

We know through the British press that in 2004, for example, Elizabeth II pressured Prime Minister Tony Blair to address the problem of climate change more aggressively in view of his meeting with US President George W. Bush and his participation in the G8 of 2005.

Also in 2004, the Queen opened the Joint Germany-UK climate conference expressing their concern for environmental issues.

In 2009, taking part in the annual meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, he pressed further on the issue: “The threat to our environment is not a recent concern, but today it is a global challenge that will continue to threaten the security and stability of millions of people for years to come“.

The following year, speaking before the United Nations in New York, Elizabeth II listed terrorism and climate change among the UN’s main challenges.

The list could go on and on. We certainly have to mention the decision of the English sovereign to ban the use of plastic disposable across all its properties in 2018. The following year it decided instead to say goodbye to animal furpreferring synthetic ones.

Elizabeth II’s legacy will live on with King Charles III

Elizabeth II has always been in good company in the attention paid to issues related to the environment, starting with the aforementioned Prince Consort Philip. The good news is that his son Carlo is also among the great supporters of these issues today Re Carlo III and her grandson William, as the Queen herself proudly announced in her speech last year occasion of COP26:

It is a source of great pride for me that the role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet will live on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William. I couldn’t be more proud of them.

A bicycle lover and great enthusiast of gardening and organic farming, King Charles III has always had the environment and its protection at heart. For over 30 years Prince Charles has managed the organic Duchy Home Farm at the Highgrove House residence he loved. In recent years he has never given up on voicing his concerns for the environment.

In 2007 King Charles III won the Harvard University Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) award for his environmental commitment started as early as the 1970s. In 2015, speaking at a conference in Washington, Carlo underlined the need to eliminate plastic from the oceans:

Today, nearly half of marine mammals have plastic in their intestines, and I know I’m not the only person haunted by the tragic images of seabirds that have been found dead on beaches after mistaking pieces of plastic for food. The fact that a recent study estimated that by 2025 there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish in the sea is not something I consider encouraging.

The following year Carlo joined forces with the English sailor Ellen MacArthurfounder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, to offer a cash prize to scientists who can offer possible solutions to plastic pollution in the seas.

More recently, in 2020, Prince Charles met Greta Thunberg at the Davos summit and the following year, paraphrasing the famous “blah blah blah” of the young Swedish activist, in an interview with the BBC in view of COP26, he invited the world leader a take concrete actions:

They just talk. All these young people feel that nothing is happening and it is obvious that they are frustrated. I totally understand, no one is ready to listen and they see their future being destroyed

Faced with the uncertainty that was created in the hours immediately following the death of Elizabeth II, at least on the environmental front we can say we are certain that the British sovereign’s legacy in terms of ecology is in good hands.