Prince Charles and me
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.010114
The Prince of Wales and I have some things in common besides our first names. We favor double-breasted suits, we studied Welsh, we went to Cambridge University, we enjoy grass-fed beef, and we like the 1974 Three Degrees’ song “When Will I See You Again ,” which the group performed at Buckingham Palace for the prince’s 30th birthday party.
But I do not share the prince’s sweeping disdain for modern civilization. His disdain is not wholly misplaced. A preference for the buildings of Nicholas Hawksmoor over those of Norman Foster is a harmless matter of taste. The prince’s objection to the factory farming of chicken, bullocks, and other edible animals springs from a concern for their welfare and the quality of their meat
The trouble is, the ills of modern civilization extend, as far as the prince is concerned, to science and technology. Not stopping at mere advocacy of homeopathy and other alternative therapies, the prince sells, though his company company Duchy Originals, a line of herbal tinctures, among them a “detox tincture ,” which contains
extracts of artichoke and dandelion, cleansing and purifying herbs to help support the body’s natural elimination and detoxification processes, and help maintain healthy digestion. Duchy Herbals Detox Tincture can be taken as part of a regular detox program.
Does it matter that a rich Englishman peddles herbal remedies? Hardly. But it’s a pity that someone so keen on safeguarding Earth’s natural environment and cultural heritage should object to science-based approaches to achieving the same ends. Prince Charles recognizes the threat of climate change. His latest book, Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World (HarperCollins, 2010), begins with the words:
This is a call to revolution. The Earth is under threat. It cannot cope with all that we demand of it. It is losing its balance and we humans are causing it to happen.
Whether humankind succeeds in forestalling climate change or not, meeting the world’s food and energy needs is sure to involve technologies that the prince deplores: genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and nuclear power.
How different the prince is from the last English king named Charles. During his reign, which ran from 1660 to 1685, Charles II commissioned a modern architect of the time, Christopher Wren, to design several buildings, including the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He appointed Isaac Newton as his Astronomer Royal and founded the Royal Society.
I don’t expect British monarchs to be as pro-science as Charles II. But it would nice if the next one weren’t so anti-science.
