The Coronation ceremony of King Charles III who has been a lifetime campaigner for sustainability and the environment, will be held on May 6 at London’s Westminster Abbey. Prior to the event, Buckingham Palace had announced that the King will re-use the clothing previously worn by his predecessors, for his coronation in a bid to promote sustainability and efficiency, Buckingham Palace said in a release.

Charles will be re-using garments which have been used at coronations since 1821 "in the interests of sustainability and efficiency", Buckingham Palace said.

The re-using vestments

The vestments include the coronation glove with gold embroidery made for his grandfather, George VI’s 1937 coronation.

During the ceremony, the glove is placed on the right hand of the monarch as a reminder that the sovereign should exercise gentleness in raising taxes.

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He will also wear his grandfather’s ‘Colobium Sindonis’ and the sword belt, going against the tradition of having a new one made for every monarch.

Other regalia which will be re-used in the service include the ‘supertunica’, a full-length, sleeved coat of gold silk, made for King George V and worn by subsequent monarchs including Elizabeth.

He will also wear the Imperial Mantle made for the coronation of George IV in 1821.

The sustainability theme is not just limited to the regalia. King Charles III will also be re-using St. Edward’s Chair or Coronation Chair.

The Chairs of Estate which were made in 1953 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II will also be used along with the central St. Edward’s Chair which was made over 700 years ago, as per the official release.

A look at how King Charles has backed environment and sustainability

King Charles has been a lifelong environmental activist who has established several initiatives and spoken at key global gatherings on sustainability.

At the young age of 21, the Prince of Wales spoke at the Countryside Steering Committee for Wales, on his concern over the environmental impact of oil pollution and plastic waste.

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King Charles also showed a willingness to step up environmental activism when famously he invited delegates of the UN Earth Summit of 1992 to an informal reception at the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The UN summit in Rio, marked the first event in over 20 years that United Nations Members were to convene.

He is said to have challenged the delegates and business leaders to discuss environmental concerns.

In 2008, he gave a speech at the European Parliament highlighting the "doomsday urgency" of fighting climate change.

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Recently, he spoke on the role of the private sector in supporting decarbonisation at the UN Climate Summit COP26 in 2021.

Apart from speaking at notable events, King Charles established several initiatives on his own too. He established the Sustainable Markets Initiative in 2020 with an aim to kickstart action towards a greener future by encouraging the private sector to increase its efforts.

Since then, over 500 CEOs have become a part of the initiative.

Wool initiative

King Charles also helped launch the Campaign for Wool initiative, which aims to educate consumers about the benefits of wool, a naturally biodegraded material which doesn’t add to the problem of landfills.

He has also spoken about the swaps he made like switching the heating of Birkhall to biomass boilers, installing solar panels at Clarence House and converting his Aston Martin to run on bioethanol fuel obtained from cheese and wine.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)