A personal design for life, according to King Charles

‘Finding Harmony’, a new documentary about the King’s deep-rooted belief in the healing power of nature, will prove a lasting testament to the greenest monarch we have ever had, says Richard Dunne

King Charles III is the greatest green monarch we have ever had. He cares passionately about living in ways that sustain the natural world and has done for many years, particularly through the work of his nature and sustainability charity, The King’s Foundation. The premiere of his new film, Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, at Windsor Castle last week, reflecting on his life’s work, was therefore not before time.

As a young Prince of Wales, the King’s speeches expressing his concerns about the destruction of our planet were often ridiculed, but time has proven him to be right – and His Majesty reflects on this in the film with good humour. He has known for a long time the fundamental truths of nature, that it works in cycles, that diversity makes a system more resilient, that life is wholly interdependent and interconnected, and that there is a geometry and beauty to the cosmic order of the universe.

These eternal principles of harmony that underpin all that His Majesty does are principles that we at The Harmony Project use to guide and inform a new way of learning to live in the world. His vision into practice has inspired our work, and it is a message that resonates with many people for the simple reason it makes such sense.

Finding Harmony, which was produced in collaboration with The King’s Foundation, with whom we work closely at The Harmony Project, charts the King’s journey from those early days as a prince who talked to flowers, to our greenest monarch whose message is at last being heard.

Over this time, he has shown that this is not just about a nature-first economy that works in harmony with the natural world, rather than degrading and polluting it. He is very clear that it is equally about human health and flourishing.

The King’s remarkable project to renovate Dumfries House in Scotland, now a global attraction and headquarters of The King’s Foundation charity, was just as much about bringing hope to the local community, where unemployment was high and prospects low, as it was about restoring the magnificent buildings and grounds of the estate.

The film has a serious message about the need for us all to address the climate and biodiversity crisis with some urgency, but there is always a twinkle in the King’s eyes, for example, when he chuckles as he visits his “Cluckingham Palace” hen coop on the way to collecting the eggs at Highgrove.

And it is a beautiful film, too, with its regular references to the awe-inspiring geometry of nature that has so captured his imagination. When I first spoke to him about understanding harmony, His Majesty suggested starting with geometry and drawing a circle, the mother of all shapes. The circle leads us to recreate the many beautiful patterns we see in the world and beyond from the micro form of a five-petalled flower to the macro form of the orbit of Earth and Venus round the Sun that creates an equally perfect five-petalled shape.

The King is a man of detail, too. Our seat tickets were made of card with wildflower seeds impregnated in them – and the dress code encouraged people not to buy new, but to re-wear, repair or recycle. They were nice touches.

What was most heartwarming, though, was the personal element to the film, highlighting His Majesty’s dedication and zeal to make harmony a reality for others to learn from and be inspired by. One of the questions he most often asks is, “What are we going to do?” – and his hope now is that a wider audience can take on the harmony mantle and find as many different ways to bring harmony into the world as possible.

Richard Dunne is director of The Harmony Project, a UK education charity. Finding Harmony: A King's Vision is available to watch on Prime Video from Friday