REPORT CARD

Prince Charles is a committed environmentalist, but when it comes to his own estate he could do a lot better. Here's how the whole royal family can bump up their grades.

- JAMES FAIR

THE ROYAL ESTATES

As one of the first major public figures to promote organic agriculture, Prince Charles undeniably has some pretty lush green laurels to garland the head that will one day wear the crown. In that context, he was a natural choice to address last year’s COP26 climate change conference, telling world leaders that “restoring natural capital” and “accelerating nature-based solutions” were part of the solution to the environmental crisis.

But, as the saying goes, fine words butter no parsnips – even organic ones – and Prince Charles and his family could do a lot more to live up to the aspirations he has set for the rest of the planet.

With this in mind, a campaign was launched in 2021 by a group called Wild Card calling on the royals to rewild their estates. Between them, the Queen and her progeny have an estimated (and very enviable) 1,000km² under their direct control, with another 1,000km² of farmland managed by the Crown Estate. The royal family does not manage this land but still benefits from it.

All told then, that’s 2,000km², an area about the size of Warwickshire (or a bit smaller than Carmarthenshire, if you prefer your comparisons in units of Wales), where the royals could – in the Prince’s own words – “restore natural capital” and “accelerate nature-based solutions”. Which, in everyday language, means letting trees and scrub grow as they want, not draining (or digging up) peatbogs, and revitalising wildflower meadows and rivers.