A powerful monarch taking on a wealthy baron is a tale as old as time itself.
Fast forward a few centuries and we’re brought right up to date, with this season’s star players Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, sticking it to billionaire space boys Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, and Her Majesty the Queen following up with her “irritation” at global leaders who don’t pull their weight.
We’re often led to believe that the Queen in particular, as head of state, must remain at all times strictly neutral with respect to political matters - and apart from the odd skillfully placed comment on issues such as the Scottish independence referendum and Brexit, interventions from the very top are extremely rare.
But in the face of the planet’s greatest ever challenge, it would appear that the royal family is putting on a concerted and united front to use their influence to shape the conversation around climate change.
Prince Charles, who has banged the emergency drum of environmentalism for half a century, spoke in recent days of us all being in the “last chance saloon”, imploring Aussie PM Scott Morrison to get his act together and join the party.
With the Queen yesterday revealing her true feelings on leaders from countries such as China, Russia and Australia not committing to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow next month, perhaps she knew exactly what she was doing when speaking after a public event: "It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.”
Whether empty promises are followed by empty chairs remains to be seen.
