His Radical Views


Could Sink Monarchy Some Brits fear his political meddling and progressive opinions will undermine Royal Family.


BY MARISA HERMAN


ciplined political neutrality. But all that may change with the


T


coronation on May 6 of King Charles who comes to the throne with a well- documented history of promoting pro- gressive positions on everything from climate change to immigration. While his mother charmed Ameri-


cans during her lengthy tenure by stay- ing out of most thorny debates, Charles has taken strong positions on some of the most hotly debated issues in poli- tics – particularly climate change. Some critics labeled him the most


powerful lobbyist in the country. Long before environmental con-


cerns became a global political flash- point, the young Prince of Wales was warning about the threats of pollution, plastic, and even overpopulation. At 21, he made his first major


speech focused on climate during a conference in Cardiff. Reflecting on the 1970 speech some 50 years later, he said he was viewed as “rather dotty” and “completely potty.” In 2008, he appealed to the Euro-


pean Parliament that the “doomsday clock of climate change is ticking.” He has spoken at several world


conferences, including the G-20 meet- ing in Rome and the 2020 World Eco- nomic Forum meeting in Davos, where he launched the Sustainable Markets Initiative, an effort to encourage busi- nesses to adopt sustainable practices. Last year, while speaking at the


opening ceremony of the COP26 cli- mate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Charles warned that the time for ad- dressing climate change had “quite lit- erally run out.”


70 NEWSMAX | MAY 2023


hroughout queen eliza- beth’s 70-year reign, the British monarch was re- vered for maintaining dis-


To address the issue, he argued that


“We have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing.” The extent of Charles’ political lob-


bying came to light after a secret stack of 27 memos he penned to senior gov- ernment ministers was released in 2015 after a 10-year freedom-of-infor- mation battle.


Charles’ ideas had arrived on the desks of government ministers in the form of “black spider memos” – a reference to Charles’ spidery handwriting in black ink.


Charles’ ideas had arrived on the


desks of government ministers in the form of “black spider memos” – a refer- ence to Charles’ spidery handwriting in black ink. The memos contained persistent


policy demands. In a single letter to the government


in February 2005, the Guardian news- paper reported he urged a national cull of badgers to prevent the spread of bo- vine tuberculosis, lobbied for his pre- ferred person to be appointed to crack down on the mistreatment of farmers by supermarkets; proposed his own aide to brief government ministers on the design of new hospitals; and urged greater availability of herbal alterna- tive medicines. He wrote separatly to the environ-


ment minister hoping that “illegal fish- ing of the Patagonian toothfish will be high up on your list of priorities be- cause until that trade is stopped, there is little hope for the poor old albatross.” He urged the health minister to ac-


celerate redevelopment at a hospital site in Sunderland in which his own ar- chitecture charity was involved, warn- ing bluntly that “chickens will come home to roost” in the government de- partment if action was not taken. Officials tried to deal with the mem-


os with typical British sang-froid. Prime Minister Tony Blair replied


to him in one letter: “I always value and look forward to your views – but perhaps particularly on agricultural topics.” An Education minister responded


to Charles’ complaint about the nutri- tional content of school meals sign- ing off: “I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Royal Highness’s most humble and obedient servant.” His pursuits have been costly for the


UK government at times, too, such as the nearly half a million dollars in legal costs that officials spent to try to pre- vent the memos from being released. In 2012, British attorney general Dominic Grieve warned the release of the


Continued on page 72


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