Opinion: Good to have a king who knows where his food comes from
© Pool/Reuters/Adobe Stock A couple of months ago, a delegation from the parish council asked if they could use my grain store for a village party.
They are determined to make a big thing of the coronation, and since I’ll generally go along with any excuse for a good shindig, I agreed.
I’ve never been the most ardent royalist – you’re unlikely to find me camping on The Mall to wave a Union Jack and doff my plastic bowler from the front row.
And as an employer, I find it slightly irritating that in May we have yet another bank holiday in a month not lacking in bank holidays, and all because a pensioner is getting a new hat.
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However, if we didn’t have a monarchy we’d probably have something rather less palatable. They also provide the country with loads of tourist income and the Daily Mail with an endless soap opera with which to enthral its readership.
So if, logically, we are going to have an apolitical figure at the head of the country, we could do an awful lot worse than King Charles.
I was once asked to give a talk to a group of farmers from the Brecon Beacons organised by the Prince’s Countryside Fund and, having looked up what the fund and its farm resilience programme was all about, I gained a profound respect for the King’s deep empathy and concern for the countryside and family farms.
I wouldn’t pretend I had much to teach these tough Welsh hill farmers, but we had a great evening discussing agriculture with a fantastic group of people.
As long ago as 1970, Charles was talking about aircraft and car emissions damaging the environment, and the inexcusable levels of river pollution.
He led the field in turning his farms over to organic and regenerative farming practices 40 years ago, and didn’t care that back then people thought him a crank.
Unlike our free-trade-obsessed government, he has repeatedly pointed out the hidden costs of cheap food in terms of its damage to both the environment and human health.
In the South West, the Duchy of Cornwall Estates are well-run and highly respected – in fact, a land agent friend once told me that if you’re looking for a tenant farm, they are the people you want as landlords.
Before I get too sycophantic, there are limits. I haven’t got as far as talking to plants yet, though I’m sure I’m not alone in talking to my cows (and in the case of my favourite Simmental cross, I’m not convinced her intellect is much greater than a moderately clever vegetable’s).
But a king who knows how his breakfast gets to his table – and even what cover crops are – is surely going to use his position to help British agriculture, and at the moment it appears we need all the help we can get.
In short, there is a lot to admire about the man, whether he has been appointed by God to rule over us or not. It’s just a shame he’ll have to be a bit more restrained in his opinions now he’s finally got to sit on the throne.