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| King Charles III, Climate Advocate, Delivers Speech at Odds With His Beliefs | King Charles III, Climate Advocate, Delivers Speech at Odds With His Beliefs |
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| For a lifelong supporter of environmental causes, a plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea was probably not what King Charles III had hoped to announce when he opened Britain’s Parliament for the first time as monarch. | For a lifelong supporter of environmental causes, a plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea was probably not what King Charles III had hoped to announce when he opened Britain’s Parliament for the first time as monarch. |
| But on Tuesday the new king outlined this and 20 of the government’s other legislative priorities in a tradition-steeped ceremony that required a display of the deadpan political neutrality for which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was famous. | But on Tuesday the new king outlined this and 20 of the government’s other legislative priorities in a tradition-steeped ceremony that required a display of the deadpan political neutrality for which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was famous. |
| Drafted by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, but delivered by King Charles, the centerpiece speech is a constitutional oddity — and one with a particular twist this year, as the new sovereign read out a list of government bills that included policies likely to be sharply at variance with his personal views. | Drafted by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, but delivered by King Charles, the centerpiece speech is a constitutional oddity — and one with a particular twist this year, as the new sovereign read out a list of government bills that included policies likely to be sharply at variance with his personal views. |
| Among those were Mr. Sunak’s plan to exploit more of Britain’s oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. Although the Conservative government argues that it will still meet its targets for Britain to become a net-zero emitter of carbon dioxide by 2050, the decision to license more fossil fuel extraction has angered campaigners against climate change — a cause close to the king’s heart for decades. | Among those were Mr. Sunak’s plan to exploit more of Britain’s oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. Although the Conservative government argues that it will still meet its targets for Britain to become a net-zero emitter of carbon dioxide by 2050, the decision to license more fossil fuel extraction has angered campaigners against climate change — a cause close to the king’s heart for decades. |
| King Charles made his first major speech about the environment in 1970, at age 21, and in recent years has been an increasingly vocal advocate for climate action. In a speech in France in September, he urged the world to “strive together to protect the world from our most existential challenge of all: that of global warming, climate change and the catastrophic destruction of nature.” | |
| Still, wearing the heavy, jewel-encrusted Imperial State Crown and seated on a throne, King Charles on Tuesday showed the poker face expected of a British monarch as he delivered the “King’s Speech,” an occasion famous less for politics than for protocol, elaborate royal regalia and intricate choreography. |