Inside King Charles’ Windsor Castle Premiere of Finding Harmony

There aren’t many world premieres where you get to meet actual, crown-wearing heads of state. Likewise, there aren’t many world premieres where meetings with those heads of state are interrupted by bona fide rock legends.

But then, there are very few world premieres like the one for “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision” — King Charles’ environmental documentary launching on Amazon — that took place on Wednesday night at Windsor Castle, the still-active palace founded by William the Conqueror almost 1,000 years ago.
As Kate Winslet noted in the opening speech of the night, it was “the first time a film premiere had taken place in a royal residence.”

Winslet, who narrates the documentary, was speaking to a room of fellow film royalty (Judi Dench was there alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci), plus experts, academics, charity professionals and entrepreneurs from across the environmental and sustainability worlds. Other assorted notables were also in attendance, including musicians (Jools Holland), former F1 champions (Sebastian Vettel), astronauts (Tim Peake) and TV bosses (Apple TV’s European chief Jay Hunt, whose sister Kristina Murrin runs The King’s Foundation and features in the film).

“It appears we have an archbishop here,” one guest exclaimed to Variety (one of a very small handful of press invited) before the screening started as a man played the bagpipes nearby. Indeed, across the room was someone decked out head-to-toe in red Catholic Church robes (actually later confirmed as the Dean of Windsor, Christopher Cocksworth). Archbishop or not, this was no ordinary premiere.

And then there was the actual royalty, King Charles and Queen Camilla, seated at the very front (in slightly plusher chairs).

“The King is not going to say any words — he’s going to come in and sit down,” the audience was politely told before the monarch’s arrival. As part of strict royal protocol, we were also informed which doors the King and Queen would be exiting out of afterwards and which doors everyone else should depart from (note: the other side).

As for the setting, this was somewhat removed from the U.K.’s usual world premiere location, the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square. And it no doubt far overshadowed the makeshift cinema put up at the White House recently for Melania Trump’s doc (although that boasted an equally eclectic list of attendees). There may not have been branded popcorn buckets here (or any popcorn at all, for that matter), but each guest did get a King’s Foundation water bottle on their seat.

Deep within the ancient and sprawling Windsor Castle, lit up majestically for a plethora of blurry outdoor photo opps, the “Finding Harmony” screening took place in the Waterloo Chamber, accessible only after passing numerous displays of medieval armor, canons, muskets and other suitably castle-like decorations. Inside the Chamber, glitteringly ornate and boasting several several crystal chandeliers, scores of paintings of British royals dating back hundreds of years and dressed in all their regal splendor beamed down from each wall. Impressive they may have looked, but none of them have fronted their own documentary, have they?

On that note, the film itself, releasing on Prime Video Feb. 6., sees King Charles reflect on more than half a century of environmentalism, his own philosophy when it comes to nature and the founding of The King’s Foundation, which has been putting it into practice for the last 35 years. Of a number of guests speaking on camera about the King’s work, most notable was perhaps Al Gore.

While few would be shocked to hear that “Finding Harmony” contains the sort of puff piece element often seen in such bio docs, there are moments many might not expect, not least its coverage of the ridicule Charles received in the press when he became an early advocate for organic farming and began highlighting concerns over climate change long before it became a major global debate. There was even space for some laughs — Charles is seen in a chicken coop called Cluckingham Palace. At the end of the film, the royal even appears to shed a tear while considering the current state of the planet.

As we were told, the King did not say any words before the premiere. But he delighted everyone by jovially working the room at the post-screening reception in the neighboring — and equally majestic — St. George’s Hall, flanked closely by his fraught-looking (yet expertly trained) personnel.

Variety was among those who managed to shuffle in line to get a few words with the King, who joked that it had been “absolutely awful” to see himself on the big screen. He later asked about Variety’s circulation, but before we could deliver the monarch any stats (top entertainment business news website since June 2022, for example), we were sadly interrupted.

Naturally, given the wonderfully surreal nature of the evening, it was perhaps unsurprising who interrupted our royal chinwag. It was Rod Stewart.