King Charles has revealed he “wasn’t going to be diverted” from his environmental campaigning despite past criticism in a new documentary showcasing his philosophy of “Harmony”. In the Amazon Prime Video film, his first project with a streaming platform, Charles recalls attacks on his outspokenness, saying: “I just felt this was the approach that I was going to stick to. A course I set and I wasn’t going to be diverted from.”
Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, filmed over seven months in four continents and exploring the importance of living in balance with nature, acts as a call to action after five decades of campaigning. “On the fight to save the planet: it’s rapidly going backwards,” he says. “Maybe, by the time I shuffle off this mortal coil, there might be a little more awareness.”
The global premiere at Windsor Castle on Wednesday evening is thought to be the first time a film has premiered at a royal residence. Actors including Kate Winslet, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench and Stanley Tucci were among 222 guests, along with musicians Rod Stewart and Jools Holland. The Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also attended.
The film, narrated by Winslet, reveals that a 1986 documentary in which Charles talked to plants “haunted him ever since”. He was “really upset” by the ensuing criticism, says Ian Skelly, co-author of the king’s 2010 Harmony book. Charles is seen collecting eggs from “Cluckingham Palace” – his hen house for rare breed hens at Highgrove, which he has turned into a test bed for his ideas.
Charles laments the loss of wildlife: “When I first came 45 years ago … I used to hear cuckoos, which you never hear a single cuckoo … And there used to be grasshoppers … the place used to hum.” The film includes “Harmony”-inspired projects from beekeeping at HMP Bristol to rainforests in Guyana, deserts in India and Kabul. A spokesperson said it was not a “conventional royal documentary” but a “deeply personal exploration”.
