King Charles will not attend the COP27 climate change conference, on advice from Prime Minister Liz Truss.
The annual conference is set to be held in Egypt next month, and Charles was said to be intending to deliver a speech.
However, according to The Times, new prime minister Truss had advised the new monarch not to go.
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A senior royal source told the outlet: “It is no mystery that the King was invited to go there. He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour, and he is not going to be attending COP.”
A source added that although Charles wouldn’t be at COP27, he will support it in ‘other ways’.
They said: “Just because he is not in physical attendance, that doesn’t mean His Majesty won’t find other ways to support it.”
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The decision has since been confirmed by Buckingham Palace, which said the agreement he wouldn't attend was made with ‘friendship and respect’.
Buckingham Palace told the BBC: "With mutual friendship and respect there was agreement that the King would not attend.”
Similar sentiments were shared with The Times by an unnamed government source, who said: “The palace and the government considered separately, and then agreed jointly, that there might be more suitable options for the King’s first state visit.”
BBC’s Jonny Dymond put it to the Palace that King Charles, who gave a speech at last year’s COP in Glasgow, must be ‘personally disappointed’ but was told that wasn’t the case and that he was ‘ever mindful of the sovereign's role to act on the government's advice’.
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Charles and son William both spoke at last year’s COP26 event, while the Queen recorded an opening address in which she praised her son for his action on climate change.
She said: “It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William. I could not be more proud of them.”
The King also spoke at COP21 in Paris, where he urged world leaders to commit ‘trillions, not billions, of dollars’.
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He also played a role in encouraging world leaders to sign up to the Paris Climate Agreement at the event.
A Number 10 spokesperson said: “We do not comment on meetings between the Prime Minister and the King.”
Topics: UK News, Politics, Royal Family, King Charles III
Claire Reid