King Charles and Cate Blanchett talk about wildflowers

In July, two unusual conversation partners met in a sunny corner of Windsor Castle: King Charles and Hollywood star Cate Blanchett. What brought the two together was an urgent cause that has been close to the monarch’s heart for decades – protecting nature.

Charles sat down with the Oscar winner and Dr. Elinor Breman, the senior researcher for seed conservation. The 22-minute conversation focused on the Millennium Seed Bank in Wakehurst, Sussex – an institution founded 25 years ago to save plant seeds from extinction due to climate change and environmental degradation

Blanchett, who serves as an ambassador for Wakehurst and also supports Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, sums up the urgency of the mission. In her introduction to the podcast, she warns: “The future of life on Earth may well depend on the seeds stored in this bank.”

The actress was shocked by a number she learned while working with the Seed Bank: 97 percent of wildflower meadows have been destroyed. “I don’t think we really understand it because we see so much natural beauty around us,” she explains in an interview.

King Charles, known for his lifelong commitment to environmental issues, used the conversation to talk about his own initiative – the Coronation Meadows. He started the project for the coronation of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022), because he was aware of the devastating loss of flower-rich meadows since the Second World War.

“What can be destroyed in one day by simply plowing takes practically 100 years to be replaced,” explains the king with palpable passion. “And it requires constant care to create this remarkable diversity.” His annual trips to Transylvania showed him what medieval meadows must have looked like: with up to 18 different species of orchids that still thrive there today because the landscape was protected in time.

The conversation also took an economic turn. Both discussed the responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry, which sources the majority of its active ingredients from plants. Charles offered a logical thought: “It must be in their interest to invest in protecting, enhancing and restoring this biodiversity” from which so many treatments have been derived.

Blanchett agreed and expressed her frustration that many extraordinary initiatives were in place but funding was lacking. “There is a willingness, but just not the alignment of resources,” she noted: an observation that also reflects the mission of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which seeks scalable solutions to environmental problems.

. He presented some of his favorite songs on Apple Music back in March. For Blanchett, however, it was her first direct collaboration with the monarch, even though she has been closely linked to the royal family since the Earthshot Prize was founded.