New documentary showcases King Charles' work as nature campaigner

Britain's King Charles hosted the first film premiere at a royal palace on Wednesday when a documentary chronicling his lifetime work of championing nature was shown at his historic Windsor Castle home.

Filmed over seven months last year, "Finding Harmony: A King's Vision", which will be shown on Amazon Prime next month, is billed as providing a deeply personal insight into the 77-year-old monarch's decades of environmental activism and the philosophy which has motivated him.

It shows Charles wistfully reflecting on his experiences, from being dismissed as crazy for talking to plants to his hope that his vision of sustainability, which is being taken up in projects across the world, will save the planet.

"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," Charles says in the film, which was made in collaboration with the King's Foundation, a charity he founded in 1990.

"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."

PRAISE AND RIDICULE

From organic farming to architecture and town planning, the king has long been outspoken on how human behaviour needs to be in harmony with nature, drawing both praise for being ahead of his time on green issues as well as ridicule and charges of inappropriate meddling from a man constitutionally required - first as Prince of Wales and now as king - to be above politics.

"All this sort of thing was considered completely bonkers," he says with a chuckle at one point, while in another scene he is shown collecting eggs from a hen coop bearing the name "Cluckingham Palace".

Among those who contributed to the documentary is former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, while actors Kate Winslet, who narrates the film, Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh were among the guests joining Charles and Queen Camilla at the 1,000-year-old castle where a cinema has been set up for the occasion.

While the documentary aims to convey a message of hope on the environment, it also comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump, who is not mentioned in the film, has described climate change as "the greatest con job" in the world.

"It's rapidly going backwards. I've said that for the last 40 years but anyway, there we are," Charles ruefully says on the battle to save the planet. "So, that's why I get a bit, anyway ... I can only do what I can do, which is not very much."

The documentary will be available globally to viewers on Amazon Prime from February 6.

"It would be nice to try and see if we can get through to people, but who knows?" Charles says.

-Michael Holden/Reuters