Party at the Palace: Prince William speech on climate

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Commentators have praised the extended-weekend of events for bringing the nation together under the banner of the Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne. The Duke of Cambridge did, however, draw some backlash after touching on the more divisive theme of climate change.

In his speech at the BBC Party at the Palace concert, the Prince looked back over the “pioneering work” of “visionary environmentalists”, expressing his joy that both his father and his grandfather have involved themselves in this movement.

He stressed that “out planet has become more fragile”, meaning “the pressing need to protect and restore our planet has never been more urgent”.

Fraser Myers, Deputy Editor of Spiked Online, criticised the royal for illustrating the notion that The Queen’s descendants “cannot seem to keep their views to himself”, branding him an “overgrown Greta Thunberg”.

He wrote that, “for some reason, the royals have got it into their heads that the environment and climate change are not political issues”.

But in his speech, Prince William touched on some themes which suggested he did, in fact, understand that his point was political.

The Duke praised the fact that “environmental issues are now at the top of the global agenda”.

He added: “More and more politicians are answering the call.”

Prince William noted that, in 2022: “Never before have we had so much power to change the big things.”

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Mr Myers, however, noted that the speech failed to mention that “ordinary people” would have to “make huge sacrifices to ‘save the planet’”.

Others have noted that it does not really matter whether the message itself was ‘correct’ or otherwise, given that this is widely subjective.

On the politicisation of royal speeches, former aide to then-Prime Minister Theresa May Nick Timothy earlier this year wrote in the Telegraph: “Even such matters of consensus are dangerous.

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“Beneath sweeping statements lie contentious choices and details of policy. And when the facts change, political positions change.”

He added that “popular consent rests on the ability of the monarchy to unite not divide us”.

Mr Myers stressed he was not only concerned by the detour into politics but also by Prince William’s “hypocrisy” on the matter.

He wrote: “Clearly, Prince William does not intend to make many sacrifices of his own to reduce humanity’s impact on the climate.

“He arrived at the Jubilee party, as the royals often do, in a helicopter.

“In fact, thanks to all the helicopters, private jets, gas-guzzling convoys and vast palaces at their disposal, the royal family produces a carbon footprint that is 50 times the size of that produced by the average UK family.”

Prince Williams’s speech will clearly have been well thought-out, having likely passed through a number of aides and officials to ensure its contents would be appropriate, but many monarchists hold that, when it comes to politics, more restraint is needed – perhaps more than ever, as the Royal Family faces new, hard-to-overcome challenges.

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