King Charles has quietly taken part in a podcast alongside Australian actor Cate Blanchett, discussing the urgent need to preserve the world’s plant life.
The episode, titled Unearthed: The Need For Seeds, features the Oscar-winning Blanchett, the 76-year-old monarch, and Dr Elinor Breman of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The trio explore the crucial work of the Millennium Seed Bank – a facility opened by King Charles in 2000 and managed by Kew Gardens – which plays a vital role in safeguarding global biodiversity against climate change and other environmental threats.
In the 22-minute episode, recorded at Windsor in July, Blanchett, 56, reflected on the importance of the seed bank’s mission.
“There is an urgency to the work that the seed bank does,” she said.
“I was shocked to learn that 97 per cent of the wildflower meadows have been decimated. I don’t think it’s something that we quite understand here, because we look around us and in the immediate term, we see so much natural beauty. But we don’t think how fragile it is.”
King Charles praised the project’s ongoing efforts, calling it a cornerstone of environmental preservation.
The King said the work of the Millennium Seed Bank is vital in preserving biodiversity for many generations to come. He added that he is “very proud” to be a patron of Kew, “I think it’s wonderful what the seed bank is doing, but we’ve got to speed up the process.”
Alongside the seed bank, Blanchett and the King also discussed the role of the pharmaceutical industry in protecting plant life, noting that many modern medicines are derived from plants.
It’s not the first time King Charles has ventured into digital media. In March, he curated a playlist for Apple Music titled The King’s Music Room to mark Commonwealth Day, featuring hits such as Kylie Minogue’s The Loco-Motion and Crazy in Love by Beyoncé.
Images: YouTube
