King Charles has used his Commonwealth Day message as a call to arms for climate change, as he delivered the message for the first time as monarch. The King outlined “the most pressing issues of our time”, with his 50-year campaigning on the environment taking centre stage. It comes despite Charles insisting he would put a stop to his championing of key issues after he acceded the throne last September.

King Charles started his message by paying tribute to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and her unwavering commitment to the Commonwealth.

He spoke of how the Commonwealth has been “a constant in my own life” and spoke of its “near-boundless potential as a force for good in the world” before moving on to discuss the globe’s most pressing issues.

Speaking from the Abbey’s Great Pulpit, the King said: “This week marks the tenth anniversary of the Charter of the Commonwealth, which gives expression to our defining values – peace and justice; tolerance, respect and solidarity; care for our environment, and for the most vulnerable among us.

“These are not simply ideals. In each lies an imperative to act, and to make a practical difference in the lives of the 2.6 billion people who call the Commonwealth home.

“Whether on climate change and biodiversity loss, youth opportunity and education, global health, or economic co-operation, the Commonwealth can play an indispensable role in the most pressing issues of our time.

“Ours is an association not just of shared values, but of common purpose and joint action.”

Charles called on the Commonwealth to come together to find collective solutions and added: “Here, the Commonwealth has an incredible opportunity, and responsibility, to create a genuinely durable future – one that offers the kind of prosperity that is in harmony with Nature and that will also secure our unique and only planet for generations to come.”

The King concluded his speech with a unifying message: “Let ours be a Commonwealth that not only stands together, but strives together, in restless and practical pursuit of the global common good.”

Climate change has long been a passion of Charles’s and was a topic he championed as the Prince of Wales.

He often delivered speeches on the topic urging for action and highlighting the horrifying effects of pollution, the importance of conservation and sustainability.

Charles was one of the early champions of the environment, delivering a major speech in 1968 on the matter – seven years before the phrase ‘global warming’ was coined by geoscientist Wallace Broecker. He continued to push the issue in the subsequent decades.

But he has long acknowledged that his campaigning – which was sometimes criticised as straying too far into the political fray – would have to take a step back when he became Head of State.

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In an interview to mark his 70th birthday in November 2018, he insisted he would not be an interfering King.

“I’m not that stupid. I do realise that it is a separate exercise being sovereign,” he said. “The idea somehow that I’m going to go on in exactly the same way, if I have to succeed, is complete nonsense because the two situations are completely different.”

In his first speech as monarch on Friday September 9 – a day after Queen Elizabeth II’s death – Charles effectively said he was hanging up the mantle on his campaigning and leaving it to other senior royals, such as his eldest son, to further important causes.

He said: “My life will of course change as I take up my new responsibilities. It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.”

These comments effectively told the world that he will be setting aside the causes – such as climate change, alternative medicine, and interfaith dialogue – that have sometimes caused public controversy.

But he says the issues will instead be championed by others, with climate change already having become a key issue taken up the Prince of Wales with his Earthshot Prize.

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