Charles ‘wasn’t going to be diverted’ from green issues, Prime Video film shows

In the 90-minute film made in collaboration with his charity The King’s Foundation for Amazon MGM Studios, the King says that the situation is “rapidly going backwards” with mankind “actually destroying our means to survival”.

But he expresses his hope “by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil” that there might be more awareness of the “need to bring things back together again”.

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.

Actress Kate Winslet, who narrates the film, also recounts how Charles was “haunted” by the criticism he faced after he said in a 1986 television interview that he talked to plants.

The documentary describes how the King, as Prince of Wales, emerged as a key figure on the environment over the years, making regular keynote speeches, despite “cries from some that he should take a back seat”, Winslet said.

The King, in new footage, adds: “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 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.

“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.

“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.”

He adds: “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.”

Winslet meanwhile says: “While explaining his passion for organic gardening to the press, Prince Charles made a comment that has haunted him ever since.”

Archive footage of him describing how he talks 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.

“It was difficult to know how to respond, but I really felt for him.”

Charles had said in 1986: “I just come and talk to the plants, really – very important to talk to them, they respond.”

The King also described how he was considered “bonkers” for going organic on his Highgrove land.

“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,” he said.

A young Duke of Sussex, who has a troubled relationship with the King, appears fleetingly in archive footage in which Charles is teaching his youngest son how to fish at Balmoral.

The Prince of Wales also features, as a small child with Charles at Highgrove, and lying next to his father on the grass as a youngster, and visiting a herd of cows with Charles at Home Farm in 2004, when William was in his twenties.

Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis, with the now Prince and Princess of Wales, are pictured briefly in footage from the King’s coronation.

And the late Queen Elizabeth II is shown filming a young Charles, in archive footage of the future king in home movies.

Discussing his decision to plant a wide range of rare varieties of vegetables at Highgrove when he began developing the gardens in the 1980s, he reveals his appreciation of the humble baked potato.

“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 documentary explores the origins, evolution and scientific foundations of the King’s “harmony” philosophy, which he set out 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 documentary also shows how The King’s Foundation, which has its headquarters at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, embraces the harmony approach – the importance of living in balance with nature – through projects focusing on community regeneration, sustainable textiles and traditional skills.

The King and Queen will attend the premiere at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, believed by Buckingham Palace to be the first time a global movie premiere has been held at a royal residence.

A spokesperson for the King said the film was “not a conventional royal documentary”.

“There are no golden carriages here; no glittering crowns or crimson robes,” the spokesperson added.

“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 spokesperson added that it “sets a new high watermark for royal documentaries”.

The film is believed to be the King’s first documentary with a streaming platform.

The Duke of Sussex famously signed a deal with Amazon’s rival Netflix, which led to the controversial series Harry & Meghan, in which the couple laid bare their struggles with royal life.

Amazon produced the series A Very Royal Scandal – a dramatised retelling of the King’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s disastrous Newsnight interview.

Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision will be released on February 6 on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.