The King's bid for harmony

Nature has been a hugely important part of King Charles’s life, from planting seeds at his Highgrove estate to being involved with planet earth. Now, at 77, he wants to share and encourage the rest of us to see and understand five decades of his environmental campaigning and “live in perfect harmony.”

The result is a 90-minute documentary called Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, a work that showcases his interest in the environment throughout his life. Amazon Prime will launch it this month in collaboration with the king’s education charity, the King’s Foundation.

Charles doubtless hopes that it will highlight the positive side of the monarchy and deflect attention away from the scandals that continue to surround his disgraced younger brother Andrew over his links to the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In the documentary, the King talks about the closeness of nature: “It all boils down to the fact that we are actually nature ourselves, we are a part of it, not apart from it, which is really how things are being presented for so long.

“Maybe, by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil, there might be a little more awareness ... of the need to bring things back together again.”

The film was premiered with the very stately background of Windsor Castle in a cinema set up for one night in the Waterloo Chamber.

The King, with Queen Camilla at his side, threw open the castle doors for a glittering night.

Camilla was dressed in a green velvet evening coat over a similar green trouser suit while the King wore a strict Windsor uniform of dark blue jacket with red facings, worn by male members of the Royal Family when in the castle.

The guests included Kate Winslet, the narrator of the film, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Rod Stewart and Dame Judi Dench, who entered on a green carpet rather than the usual showbusiness red one.

The film is very much about Charles, for him and worked on by him. There are plenty of photographs when he was young but only a few of his family.

What also has pleased him is that his undisclosed cancer has improved. So why are there now several negative comments floating about his life?

Prince Harry, for example, has not yet apologised to his father for the disgusting comments he made in his memoir Spare and leaked to journalists. He has also been rude about Queen Camilla, who has been so supportive of his father.

Yet it is rumoured that the King is offering his “most personal residence”, Balmoral in Scotland, to Harry so that he and his family can spend plenty of time there in the summer. It is a generous gesture that Meghan and Harry don’t deserve because they can’t yet be trusted or forgiven. None the less, Charles is reportedly standing firm, perhaps believing that he should offer Harry and Meghan “trust, forgiveness, and a genuine desire to heal.”

Prince William however is “strongly opposing” what his father is doing, believing such generosity is too much, too soon.

Has Harry asked for forgiveness? No. Does he intend to? At the moment he is too arrogant. Harry has said he felt trapped with the royals and is unlikely to change. Nor did he want his children “to inherit any sense of duty, expectation, or pressure simply because of their birth.” But Meghan strongly believes they should retain their titles.

Harry is also renowned for asking his father for money. The king has told his friends “I’m not a bank”, and stopped talking to him. Meghan is a huge spender. Neither of them would be likely to fit into the royal routine as they would only do what suited them.

A few months ago Harry told his father he longed to be with him then soon afterwards gave a brutal interview about him to the BBC. Would Meghan like time in the quiet Scottish countryside without photographers? I doubt it.

Another thought has been that Harry and Meghan might take over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, Royal Lodge with its 30 rooms in Windsor Great Park.

Most worrying of all, however, is that the King is said to be relying on Princess Catherine, whom he adores, who doesn’t put a foot wrong and has also had cancer, to re-befriend Meghan. What a demand, considering Meghan’s cruel and jealous behaviour towards Catherine

The King knows there have been missteps between the family and Harry and Meghan but he is now willing to forgive them and he feels that Catherine is the only person who could do it. I hope she keeps well away, and avoids putting the monarchy at risk.