The Queen is irritated. For good reason.
She has been overheard on camera noting her irritation at world leaders who are not attending COP26, the massive climate change summit happening in Glasgow in November.
World leaders like Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has said he’s unlikely to attend due to concerns about having to go into quarantine again, given he’s spent “a lot of time in quarantine” this year.
“I’ve been hearing all about COP [and we] still don’t know who is coming, no idea,” the Queen is overheard saying following the opening of the Welsh Parliament.
“We only know about people who are not coming … and It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do,” Queen Elizabeth said.
It’s believed she may have been speaking about Morrison, as well as other world leaders like Brazil President Jail Bolsonaro.
The Queen made the comments following a public event while speaking with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as Elin James, a Welsh politician. They were rare words from the Queen, given her considerable silence on climate change, especially when compared with other members of her family who are significantly more vocal on the need to do what needs to be done.
While the comments were “caught” on camera, there are some suggestions the comments may have been intentionally been said loud enough for others to hear.
Jones replied to the Queen by saying “exactly” and then mentioning comments made by Prince William earlier today, who took aim at the space race on the BBC. “We need some of the world’s greatest brains fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to live,” he said.
The Queen told Jones, smiling, that she’d read about the comments Prince William had made.
Meanwhile, earlier this week Prince Charles urged Morrison to attend the climate talks, calling it the last opportunity to avoid “catastrophe.”
Prince Charles particularly took issue with Morrison’s excuse for not attending, stopping his walk when a reporter told him that his no-show would be due to not wanting to have to go into quarantine again this year. “Is that what he says it is?” Prince Charles responded.
Prince Charles continued, stating that: “If we don’t really take the decisions that are vital now it’s going to be impossible to catch up.”
But Morrison’s quarantine excuse may not survive the test of time. NSW has just announced that fully vaccinated people coming in from overseas will no longer need to quarantine from 1 November 2021. Just in time for the Prime Minister to get to Glasgow.