A Royal Green Design for King Charles

Is King Charles III a trailblazer, a man ahead of the curve?

Back when he was still the Prince of Wales, he was mocked for saying he hugs trees, talks to plants and is interested in traditional remedies. However, over the years, the tide has changed and an increasing number of people have begun to embrace these ideas.

He’s also pioneered agricultural techniques and solar panels, even saying in an article published in Country Life magazine to celebrate his 66th birthday that “it would not only be folly to lose agricultural land it would be equally foolish to use it in ways that are not environmentally sustainable in the long term.”

So perhaps we should all listen to what the monarch had to say when he showed Jay Blades around Dumfries House in a recent special edition of The Repair Shop. During a tour of the workshops of the Prince’s Foundation Building Craft Programme – the training initiative teaching traditional skills such as blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving which is based there – he stated: “I still think the great tragedy is the lack of vocational education in schools, actually. Not everybody is designed for the academic.

“I know from The Prince’s Trust, I have seen the difference we can make to people who have technical skills which we need all the time. I have the greatest admiration for people. I think that’s been the biggest problem, sometimes that is forgotten. Apprenticeships are vital but they just abandoned apprenticeships for some reason.

“It gives people intense satisfaction and reward.”

The new King will perhaps touch on that idea again, or at least the work of his Foundation, when cameras return to Dumfries House for this new documentary, which has been 15 years in the making.

In 2007, the rundown estate on which the Palladian mansion stands was bought for the nation by a consortium led by the then Prince of Wales, who hoped that returning it to its former glory would help boost the local economy in Ayrshire, one of the UK’s most deprived regions. A year later, it was opened to the public, who were impressed by its huge collection of Chippendale furniture; it’s gone on to host everything from fashion shows to fitness classes and weddings.

But the work hasn’t stopped, as this programme reveals – and the King himself still has big plans, despite his new role.

“When I first took on Dumfries House it was always my greatest ambition to do as much as possible for all the various communities surrounding the estate,” he once remarked.

“Dumfries House has a very special place in my heart for all sorts of reasons and I look forward to working for many more years within this wider community and beyond in continued effort to do what I can to help in this part of Scotland.”

His public will no doubt look forward to witnessing him put his latest ideas into action as well.