Queen and Country

SOME REFLECTIONS ON OUR LATE MONARCH'S VIEWS OF NATURE

"While some of her family members were more prominently associated with environmentalism, the Queen loved the natural world - and led by example," said Sky news reporter Victoria Seabrook on Thursday 8th September 2022 who also went on to say that whilst the Queen may have spoken less about the climate than some of her family members, perhaps her actions spoke louder than words. "For a leader in her position, the Queen trod relatively lightly on the planet". Quoting royal historian Kate Williams she said "As a person, she was very frugal, and it's very much about her upbringing as a war baby."

'Her Majesty's simple diet of local produce and meat had low food miles - likely easier when one owns vast farm and hunting land. She reused wrapping paper, kept furniture for decades, re-wore outfits, farmed honey at Buckingham Palace and took holidays in Scotland at her Balmoral estate.

"She wasn't explicitly saying, 'look at me, I'm so eco'," said Prof Williams. But the way the Queen lived was "very much the ways in which people lived in the 1940s and 1950s," when rationing was familiar. And while some of her family members were more prominently associated with environmentalism - Prince Philip was president of the World Wildlife Fund; Prince Charles championed organic farming; Prince William founded the environmental Earthshot prize - the Queen held dozens of patronages and links with environmental organisations, from African Parks to Botanic Gardens. Her love of the natural world was on display in a 2018 TV programme with Sir David Attenborough, in which the nonagenarians admired even older trees in Buckingham Palace gardens. That's not even to mention her love of animals - particularly corgis and horses - and gardening.

Prof Williams noted that "it's quite difficult for the Royal Family to about environmental issues because of the natural carbon footprint of being a royal," including the vast palaces they call home and extensive travel on official visits.

But the Queen's greatest impact may have been in the form of the domino effect that her actions had on public behaviour.

Following the news in 2019 that the Queen had stopped wearing fur, searches for faux fur products spiked 52%, according to Lyst's 2020 Conscious Fashion report.

Trees sprang up all around the country in her Platinum Jubilee year, after she requested everyone mark the occasion by planting trees as a part of her Queen's Green Canopy project.

In her older years the Queen became more outspoken."I think because she knows when she's outspoken, it means a lot, it says a lot, it does a lot," said Prof Williams.Before the UK hosted the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November 2021, the Queen criticised world leaders' inaction on the crisis. Caught speaking privately on a livestream, she said:"Extraordinary, isn't it? I've been hearing all about COP ... Still don't know who is coming. No idea. We only know about people who are not coming... It's really irritating when they talk, but they don't do," she was captured saying. Although not intended for public circulation, that criticism was later echoed in her official address at the climate talks. In an unusually personal video message, she said many people hoped the "time for words has now moved to the time for action".