‘A real pioneer’: King Charles seeks to embody green values in royal estate

Changes include converting Bentleys to run on biofuels but helicopter use shows difficulties in balancing priorities

A pair of gas-guzzling Bentleys are not the most obvious candidates to burnish the monarch’s green credentials. But news that King Charles is converting his chauffeur-driven luxury vehicles to run on biofuels was this week billed as a small step in a bigger plan to reduce emissions – perhaps the equivalent of lesser mortals separating paper from plastic in the weekly rubbish.

“The two existing state Bentleys will undergo refurbishment in the coming year to enable them to run on biofuel,” said Sir Michael Stevens, the keeper of the privy purse, adding that it was an interim measure in advance of “the next generation of state vehicles being fully electrified” and part of a “wider plan to make a significant impact on our carbon emissions in the years ahead”.