Hail the green king State Bentleys to run on biofuel in plan to cut royal emissions

A pair of gas-guzzling Bentleys are not the most obvious candidates to burnish the monarch's green credentials.

- Harriet Sherwood

But news that King Charles is converting his chauffeur-driven luxury vehicles to run on biofuels was this week billed as a small step in a bigger plan to reduce royal emissions.

"The two existing state Bentleys will undergo refurbishment in the coming year to enable them to run on biofuel," said Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse.

It was an interim measure ahead of "the next generation of state vehicles being fully electrified" and part of a "wider plan to make a significant impact on our carbon emissions in the years ahead".

The revelation was swiftly followed by news of a deal between the Crown Estate, the monarchy's property arm, and Great British Energy, Labour's new publicly owned energy company, to build offshore wind farms to power 20m homes. The Crown Estate - which will receive a share of any profits -owns most of the seabed that stretches up to 12 nautical miles from the coastline. Both measures served to reinforce the image of the Green King. "There is no doubt that our monarch, our head of state, is a very committed and very effective environmentalist," said Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England and former executive director of Friends of the Earth, who has co-authored two books with Charles.