Prince Charles’ support for climate change issues and his seemingly lackluster response to “eco-zealots,” also known as climate protestors, whose actions caused massive traffic jams in London, has infuriated one columnist. The heir to the British throne has been blasted as being “worryingly out of touch with the lives of ordinary people” following his comments about the controversial protests.
Prince Charles Sounds Off On Climate Protestors
For two weeks starting in late August, environmental activists gathered in London to demand urgent action from the government on climate change. Many of these protests caused deliberate disorder and resulted in over 500 arrests after protestors blocked traffic with their demonstrations.
Prince Charles was asked by the BBC’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt about the protests and explained that it “isn’t helpful, I don’t think,” to demonstrate for the cause “in a way that alienates people.” Despite the fact that Charles has long been a champion of environmental causes, he continued, “So I totally understand the frustration, the difficulty is how do you direct that frustration in a way that is more constructive rather than destructive.”
This wasn’t good enough for one Daily Mail columnist, Stephen Glover. Glover, who wrote that Prince Charles has become “increasingly alarmed by climate change, sometimes to the point of being apocalyptic,” was largely dismissive of the crown prince’s environmental worries. In fact, Glover went so far as to say Charles “sometimes sounds like an interesting though dotty professor who is worryingly out of touch with the lives of ordinary people.”
Protests Caused Massive Traffic Jam
Glover, correctly, pointed out that many people found themselves “stuck in endless queues on motorways,” which made some late for work or possibly appointments at the doctor.
“He could and should, have pointed out that blocking roads, and preventing hard-pressed folk from going about their business, is not only utterly pointless and extremely anti-social,” Glover continued, adding, “It is also now illegal.”
Glover then added a somewhat hum-drum anecdote about twice seeing Charles being driven around in a Bentley. This writer once saw Queen Elizabeth riding in a horse-drawn carriage, but she very rarely brings this up.
One Writer’s Advice To The Crown Prince
Moving right along, Glover wraps up his column by advising the prince to “stop ruffling the feathers of millions of Britons, and to bend his energies to becoming the kind of gloriously impartial monarch his mother is.” It’s somewhat odd the line Glover walks in the article.
At no point does he provide evidence that Prince Charles’, or the “eco-zealots” for that matter, concerns about climate change are overblown. Rather, he just insists that other people might disagree and mocks the prince for possessing a vehicle that runs on biofuel while also accepting a police escort. Those accompanying vehicles, no doubt, run on the regular sort of fuel, which does pose a strange, hypocritical quandary for Charles.
Glover rightly points out that Charles’ privilege allows him to be environmentally conscious in a way that regular citizens, even ones who work on his behalf like the police, don’t have access to. But the message behind his column isn’t that Charles should work to overcome these inequalities, but rather he should just shut up or risk alienating people who don’t have the privileges he does.
For all the respect he extends towards Queen Elizabeth, it seems like the only reason he likes her at all is that she’s silent on subjects that annoy him. Long live the queen, as long as she doesn’t bother me with her opinion.