Queen to urge world leaders to do more to protect planet

After her ‘they talk, but don’t do’ jibe, a landmark intervention...

THE QUEEN is to make a landmark intervention in the climate change debate, urging world leaders to do more to protect the planet. Her Majesty will open the UN climate change conference in Glasgow later this month with a speech that acknowledges the scale of the environmental crisis and makes it clear she shares the profound concerns already voiced by members of her family.

Around 120 past and present world leaders are expected to attend COP26 including President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The Queen’s involvement means that the most senior members of the Royal Family are now united in their wish to address climate change, commonly accepted as the most pressing issue facing the planet.

A source said that the 95-year-old monarch’s views were ‘very much aligned’ with her son Prince Charles and her grandson Prince William, who have been campaigning on green issues for decades.

The source said: ‘You can’t fit a piece of paper between the

Queen, the Prince of Wales and

Prince William when it comes to the big issues like this. They are all in agreement.’

Buckingham Palace turned green in a light show last night to support the first award ceremony of Prince William’s decade-long Earthshot Prize, which rewards pioneering environmental entrepreneurs. The Queen has been a staunch supporter of her grandson’s campaign.

Last week, a microphone picked up Her Majesty’s unguarded comments at the opening of the Welsh parliament, at which the Queen was heard to say: ‘I’ve been hearing all about COP… Still don’t know who is coming… no idea.’

She added: ‘We only know about people who are not coming… and it’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.’

Her comments are thought to relate to the suggestion that China’s

President Xi Jinping might not attend COP26.

Palace aides and Government sources have been discussing the details of the two-week long conference. While the Queen’s opinions on a range of issues are a closely guarded secret, she is said to be keen to support the mission of her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who spoke passionately about biodiversity loss long before it was a mainstream concern.

In 2018 the Queen granted a rare television interview to veteran wildlife presenter Sir David Attenborough. In the programme, The Queen’s Green Planet, the monarch spoke of her dream of creating a global network of forests.

‘It might change the climate again,’ she said of the initiative.