King Charles said he “wasn’t going to be diverted” from his environmental campaign, despite years of fierce criticism.
The new Prime Video documentary, Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, looks back at the King’s philosophy and lifelong commitment to green issues.
The 90-minute film, due to be released on February 6, shows His Majesty warning that the situation is “rapidly going backwards” with mankind “actually destroying our means to survival”.
He hopes there will be greater awareness of the issue, with a “need to bring things back together again”.
The King ‘wasn’t going to be diverted’ from his campaign around the environment | GETTY
Actress Kate Winslet narrates the film and describes how the King, as Prince of Wales, emerged as a key figure on the environment, making regular keynote speeches, despite “cries from some that he should take a back seat”.
The King, in new footage, explained: “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.”
After an academic said that the world is not on the “trajectory” needed to limit the worst effects of climate change, Charles remarked: “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.
“People don’t seem to understand it’s not just climate that’s the problem – it’s also biodiversity loss, so we’re actually destroying our means of survival, all the time.”
Archival footage is included of the King speaking to plants
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The King continued: “To put that back together again is possible, but we should have been doing it long ago. We’ve got to do it as fast as we can now.
“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.”
Archival footage of the King, showing him talking to plants, is included in the film.
Ian Skelly, co-author of the King’s 2010 Harmony book, said: “Those criticisms really upset him. He got treated very unfairly, seen very unfairly, and those of us that knew him better were quite upset by that.
Actress Kate Winslet narrates the film
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“It was difficult to know how to respond, but I really felt for him.”
Charles described how he was considered “bonkers” for going organic on his Highrove land, saying: “I felt the time had come to demonstrate how you could restore soil fertility because by then the soil had lost all its life. All this sort of thing was considered completely bonkers.”
Discussing his decision to cultivate various rare vegetable varieties at Highgrove in the 1980s, he shared his affection for the simple baked potato.
His Majesty said: “Part of that is to find the right varieties. If you want to have a decent baked potato, which I love, you’ve got to have the crispy skins, so the red Duke of Yorks are very good.”
The 2010 book, Harmony: A New Way Of Looking At Our World, is set for republication
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The documentary examined the origins, development, and scientific basis of the King’s “harmony” philosophy, introduced in his 2010 book Harmony: A New Way Of Looking At Our World.
The book will be republished by HarperCollins in March to mark the release of the documentary.
The production also showed how The King’s Foundation embraced the Harmony approach.
A spokesman for the King said the film was “not a conventional royal documentary”.
“There are no golden carriages here; no glittering crowns or crimson robes.
“Instead, this is a deeply personal exploration of ideas that have shaped His Majesty’s life and work: the interconnectedness of all things, the wisdom of traditional knowledge, and the belief that we can build a future that works in partnership with nature rather than against it,” the spokesman said.
