The King gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow last year
Buckingham Palace has confirmed that King Charles III will not attend the COP27 climate change conference, scheduled to take place in Egypt later this year.
This came in response to an article published by the “Sunday Times”, which claimed that Prime Minister Liz Terrace “ordered” the king not to attend.
The palace said that Teras advised the king, following he asked for advice.
The palace stated that “it was agreed that the king would not attend with mutual friendship and respect.”
Before taking the throne last month, the King – who was Prince of Wales – indicated he would attend the annual conference.
BBC Royal Family Correspondent Johnny Damon said the BBC had told the palace that the king must be disappointed personally, given his decades of passionate environmental campaigning.
But the palace replied that it was not that the king was uncomfortable, and that he was always aware of his role to act on the advice of the government.
Last November, the king – the emir at the time – traveled to Egypt with the government’s blessing at the time to urge the Egyptian administration to continue its efforts, and he met President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a planned visit.
In the past, the King has shown a deep commitment to environmental issues, and as the Prince of Wales, he has had a long history of campaigning to curb the effects of climate change.
Last year, the king addressed the opening ceremony of COP26 in Glasgow, when Britain hosted the summit. The late Queen also delivered a speech at the event via video link.
Egyptian authorities say they hope to use their COP27 presidency to urge the international community to act on pledges to support developing countries to deal with the devastating effects of climate change.
Despite this, there was criticism prior to the summit from human rights groups. Egypt has severely curtailed the work of environmental groups, Human Rights Watch said. Officials in Cairo said the report was “misleading”.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh from 8-16 November.
Next week, King Charles will attend his first public engagements since the end of the royal mourning period, including a reception in Edinburgh for South Asian communities from across Britain and a visit to Dunfermline Abbey.
