King Charles to miss huge event in major schedule shake-up during cancer treatment
Organisers had hoped that King Charles, known as a lifelong environmentalist, would be able to attend the COP29 climate change summit next month - but it has been revealed that he will not be attending
King Charles will not attend a huge event month as he continues to pace himself while undergoing treatment for cancer.
Organisers of the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan had hoped the lifelong environmentalist would be able to make the event where world leaders will gather in the capital Baku for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference. Charles, who is preparing to travel to Australia next week alongside Queen Camilla for the start of their autumn tour, has been praised for his commitment to the summit in previous years.
In Dubai last December, the King gave a rousing call to arms in the opening statement of COP28. Charles warned the world remained “dreadfully far off track” in key climate targets from the Paris Agreement in 2015 and called for meaningful change.
Royal sources said the government had elected not to ask the King to represent Britain at the event, although it is understood Number 10 felt “an abundance of caution” was necessary given the monarch’s current schedule. A source said: “The King will not be going to COP. He has not been asked by the government to attend the event and he is also mindful of his own commitments following the upcoming autumn tour.”
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an agreement signed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. There are 198 countries that are parties to the Convention.
Charles had previously welcomed the president-designate of COP29, Mukhtar Babayev, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to his Clarence House home in London in July. The sovereign returned to duties in April and has continued his weekly cancer treatment since being diagnosed with the disease in February.
In between his weekly treatment in London, Charles has been largely spending time in Scotland, “immersing himself in nature to aid his recovery”, according to those close to the King. The Mirror revealed last week that doctors have signed off on Charles, 75, pausing his treatment for the duration of the autumn tour.
