King Charles III has reportedly abandoned plans to attend the Cop27 climate change summit and deliver a speech on the advice of Liz Truss.
A seasoned campaigner on environmental issues, the emperor was invited to the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next month.
But according to the Sunday Times, the prime minister is understood to have raised the objection during a private gathering at Buckingham Palace last month.
Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles III will not attend the summit.
A senior royal source told the newspaper: “It is no secret that the king was invited to go there. He had to think very carefully about what steps he should take for his first overseas tour, and he Not going to join the coop.”
He said the decision was made on the advice of the government and “entirely in the spirit of the king always taking care that he acts on government advice”. However, it remains “under active discussion” how King Charles will make his presence felt at Cop 27, which runs from 6 to 18 November.
Another source said that the new monarch would be “personally disappointed” to miss the conference and was “all ready to go”, with several events planned around his Sustainable Market Initiative (SMI), aimed at Persuading businesses to invest in eco-friendly initiatives. ,
“The Queen made a completely non-political speech at the coop last year … it seems she is not being given a choice. This is an error of judgment on the part of the government,” the Sunday Times was told.
The 73-year-old has played an active role in previous environmental summits. King delivered the inaugural address at Cop21 in Paris in 2015, calling for a “massive military-style campaign” to fight climate change and urging world leaders to commit “trillions, not billions of dollars”.
He also called on world leaders and businesses to encourage the signing of the historic Paris climate agreement ahead of the summit.
Last year, King Charles III made a speech at the opening ceremony of Cop26 in Glasgow, calling on world leaders to adopt a “warlike” approach to tackling the threat of climate change.
Before Cop26, he invited John Kerry, the US special envoy on climate, to London’s Clarence House, a stark contrast to the government, which failed to send a minister when Kerry gave a keynote speech at Kew.
The then Prince of Wales formulated the Terra Carta, or Earth Charter, of environmental goals.
Her work on the conservation of rainforests and species has also been taken up by her son, Prince William.
The new Prince of Wales delivers a speech after photographs of the planet were presented at Buckingham Palace, during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
William said at the time: “As I look at those extraordinary images, it makes me think of all the monumental and pioneering work of so many visionary environmentalists who have gone before.
“I am very proud that my grandfather and my father have been a part of those efforts.”
The summit will be King Charles’ first overseas visit as sovereign.
A source told the Guardian that it is standard protocol for the monarch to seek government guidance before accepting an invitation abroad.
A No 10 spokesman said: “We do not comment on meetings between the prime minister and the king.”