The death of Queen Elizabeth II marks the end of an era and the world has changed with her passing. The Queen has been a part of all our lives for so long it is hard to imagine she is no longer there, guiding and unifying the nation with a dignity that cannot be replaced.
But Scotland and Britain now has a new monarch – King Charles III. No one should expect him to reign in the same way as his mother but the question for all of us is what do we hope for from the new King?
Do we want a monarch who quietly moves in the background to advise and keep out of the cut and thrust of political debate? Or do we want the new King to act as he did as Prince of Wales speaking out on the issues he holds dear?
It would be wrong, of course, for the new King to seek to unduly influence the democratically-elected politicians put in place to govern. But that does not mean he has to stay silent when he could be a voice of reason and global influence on major issues. And that is where the new King’s commitment to raising awareness around climate change could, we hope, be his defining mission.
When Queen Elizabeth II took to the throne in 1952, Scotland remained a nation of heavy industry, with tens of thousands of men working underground digging for coal. While jobs were plentiful, the health and environmental impacts were already obvious – but little understood by most.
Homes relied on coal fires for warmth. Factory chimneys belched out smoke in the hearts of our cities. Buildings were caked in thick layers of soot and smog hung heavy in the air on bleak winter days. And this was all before car ownership became widespread, leading to gridlocked roads, worsening air quality and deadly carbon emissions.
We now know that centuries of burning fossil fuels has had a terrible impact on our planet. Average temperatures are rising steadily. Parts of Europe have endured record-breaking heatwaves and droughts this summer.
Scotland’s coal-fired industry is long gone but we could lead the way in a new generation of clean renewable energy. It is in this context that the King’s commitment to environmental causes could prove to be transformational.
King Charles III, as we must now learn to call him, was speaking out on green issues long before they entered the political
mainstream. He made his first speech about plastic waste and the dangers of pollution at the age of just 21. He was an advocate of organic food, building conservation and sustainable farming methods when these were still very much niche concerns.
The Duke of Rothesay, as he was then, was often ridiculed for speaking out on the issues he cared about. His critics dismissed them as irrelevances and questioned whether the heir to the throne should speak publicly on contentious issues at all.
Charles himself admitted that some people thought he was “completely dotty” to speak out on the environment. It’s fair to say that Charles has often spoken his mind in a way his mother never did. The Queen never consented to an interview with a journalist throughout her 70 years on the throne.
Not only can Charles take a different path – but he could place this country and himself at the forefront of global change if he speaks out on the environment. The former mining hub of Cumnock in East Ayrshire does not, at first glance, seem the kind of place where the new monarch’s thoughts on the environment would find a sympathetic ear. But an impressive 18th-century mansion on the edge of the town has become one of his greatest passions.
For years, Dumfries House was privately owned and its grounds closed to the public. But since being bought by the King’s charitable foundation in 2007, it has become a community hub, tourist attraction and source of much-needed local employment. But it is also a place where the King has put into practice his views on sustainable farming.Charles will likely continue to visit Cumnock as King. He had stayed at Dumfries House last Wednesday before the news of the Queen’s declining health became public.
At the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year, Charles warned delegates it was “the last-chance saloon” for action. He stressed what he called “our overwhelming responsibility to generations yet unborn”.
While some positive agreements were made at the summit, it was widely agreed that it was not enough to make a meaningful long-term impact on climate change. We must all hope that our new Green King will continue to speak up for the issues raised at the Glasgow summit.
Now is not the time for Charles to be silenced on the most pressing issue that faces our world. At a time when he will enjoy enormous goodwill from people around the globe, the King’s words will be listened to like never before.
It would be easy to be cynical about a member of the Royal family preaching about the need for conservation while they own several estates bigger than many towns. But Charles deserves credit for this commitment, stretching back more than 40 years, to making people more aware of the need to treat climate change as a serious and very real threat.
The Scots historian Tom Devine has suggested the monarchy in Scotland will continue long after the Queen but that she will be a very hard act to follow.
The best way for Charles to win over remaining doubters is to continue to advocate for the causes that he has championed his entire adult life. Royal supporters can often be heard singing God Save the King. Now is perhaps the time for the King to help save us – and our planet.
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