King Charles appears to have taken a page from his daughter-in-law Meghan Markle‘s playbook by making a podcast appearance.
The 76 year old monarch joined Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett on a podcast to discuss the Millennium Seed Bank.
The seed bank, established a quarter-century ago at Kew Gardens’ Wakehurst facility, safeguards plant species from extinction due to climate change and environmental dangers by cleaning, drying and preserving seeds in specialized walk-in freezers.
These freezers maintain temperatures of minus 20 degrees and have safeguarded nearly 2.5 billion seeds since 2000. The King inaugurated the Millennium Seed Bank during his time as Prince of Wales and has remained engaged with its development, most recently visiting in 2019, reports the Express.
On the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Unearthed podcast, the King discusses the significance of the seed bank alongside Cate Blanchett and Dr. Elinor Breman, Kew’s senior research leader in seed conservation.
During the podcast, the King – who has served as Kew’s patron since 2016 – remarked: “I thought it was a good excuse because I knew about the real damage that has been done to all our flower-rich meadows since the war, really.
“I think it’s wonderful what the seed bank is doing, but we’ve got to speed up the process.”
The podcast was taped on the Windsor Castle grounds in July. This marks the monarch’s second podcast venture, following his appearance on Apple Music in March where he revealed some of his favorite musical selections. The King has garnered a lot of positive feedback from Royal enthusiasts following the confirmation of his podcast appearance today.
One admirer commented on Instagram: “How cool.” Another expressed: “Brilliant and so important.”
This move is likely to be well-received by Meghan Markle, Prince Harry‘s spouse, who is an avid podcast listener and has hosted her own podcast shows since stepping back from Royal duties in 2020. She has also been a guest on several podcasts this year.