King Charles makes urgent plea for grandchildren's futures in new video

King Charles is reflecting on the legacy he hopes to leave behind for future generations.

The 77-year-old monarch addressed the climate crisis and its long-term impact in a newly released video shared via a joint post by the Royal Family’s Instagram and RE:TV, the video platform for His Majesty’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, which launched six years ago. The clip stitches together moments from King Charles’ speeches on climate change and sustainability delivered across several decades, and also features his grandkids. 

“The difficulty has always been to capture people’s real attention… There is now almost total consensus within the international scientific community that the emissions of greenhouse gases are changing our climate…” the King says in one excerpt.

Another segment, pulled from a 2011 speech, highlights the message he hopes will resonate with generations to come. “History will not judge us by how much economic growth we achieve in the immediate years ahead, nor by how much we expand material consumption, but by the legacy we leave for our children, grandchildren, their grandchildren.”

That portion of the video is paired with footage of his grandchildren, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, the youngest children of Prince William and Princess Kate. King Charles is also grandfather to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.

The video closes with a series of reflections underscoring urgency and shared responsibility. “Sustainability can only be achieved by all of us working together… empowering communities… being ahead of the game… As stewards of the land… And in the simplest of terms… frankly, we’ve all had enough talking… it is hard to imagine anything that poses a greater challenge and opportunity for humanity… I’m just going to go on doing my best.”