"The Earth does not belong to us... we belong to it'

King issues rallying cry as he tells world leaders they are dreadfully off track’ on targets

- Robert Jobson and Nicholas Cecil

THE King today issued a rallying cry to world leaders to save the planet from catastrophic climate change stating: “The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth”.

Addressing the United Nations COP28 summit in Dubai, he warned heads of government, business chiefs and climate campaigners that the world remains “dreadfully far off track” in key net zero targets. As the planet warms with wildfires and floods already destroying communities, he emphasised: “In 2050 our grandchildren won’t be asking what we said, they will be living with the consequences of what we did or didn’t do.”

The 75-year-old monarch and Commonwealth head had flown to the United Arab Emirates amid the Omid Scobie book furore. The Dutch edition of Scobie’s book Endgame named the King and his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, as having made remarks about Prince Archie's skin colour before he was born. Endgame was hastily withdrawn from shop shelves in the Netherlands and copies pulped with the publisher blaming a "translation error".