It remains a big question as to how the royal family, particularly Prince Charles, will interact with President Donald Trump as his visit to the United Kingdom looms near. The two leaders have been previously found to have differing opinions over climate change. While Trump has already been vocal about his disapproval over the subject, he further condemned it by taking down the official White House webpage on climate change.
Traditionally, the royal family does not publicize their statements on political affairs, as noted by People. However, Prince Charles has been known for expressing his strong views over environmental issues, giving his first speech on the situation of the environment when he was merely 20 years old in 1968.
In Prince Charles’ 1989 speech at Saving the Ozone Layer World Conference, he emphasized the impact of human activity on nature, “persistently choosing short-term options and to hell with the long-term repercussions.” On the other hand, Trump openly condemned the concept of global warming on Twitter, stating that such idea was made by the Chinese for their own benefits as it makes U.S. manufacturing less competitive.
According to Prince Charles' official website, he has set his eyes on the “realistic” revival of rainforests by stopping its destruction for a low carbon economy, Trump insists that man-made global warming is unreal. He cited the people in the 1920’s who believed in global cooling, which eventually evolved into global warming.
When it comes to addressing climate change, Prince Charles relies on scientific evidence, hence the need to act in accordance to what has been logically laid out. He insists that, if humans continue to push nature to destruction until enough evidence is gathered, it will be too late to make comprehensive plans.
The 68-year-old royal previously underlined the growing demand for organic food, thus the need to increase supply availability across the food sectors. Ultimately, he believes that governments have failed to address the root cause of climate change and other worldly problems. In contrast, Trump previously called out former president Barack Obama for his “madness” and for increasing his focus on global warming rather than facing terrorism, such as the threats brought on by ISIS.
“While the world is in turmoil and falling apart in so many different ways—especially with ISIS—our president is worried about global warming. What a ridiculous situation,” he wrote on Instagram. Trump remains open to examining climate change, saying that he has an open mind and that he and his administration will look into it “very carefully.”
