King Charles will be ‘crowned’ two days early in a poignant service before the official Coronation. The chief of the Amazon’s tribes will carry out the honour, when he presents him with a headdress of rainforest feathers in a special ceremony tomorrow.
Amazon indigenous leader Uyunkar Domingo Peas has flown into London from Ecuador to carry out the honour tomorrow, two days before the King’s official Coronation on Saturday.
It is the tribal chiefs’ highest way of showing their gratitude for the monarch's two decades of work to highlight the disappearing rainforests.
In a mark of how much the cause matters to the King, Charles has prioritised time in his diary for the ceremony at 2pm on Thursday in Buckingham Palace just two days before his formal crowning at Westminster Abbey.
Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn on TalkTV about the event for the first time, Uyunkar shared details of the special pre-coronation, explaining the meaning behind the crown of feathers presentation.
Through his translator, Uyunakr said: “So, first I want to say that the crown comes from the Achuar people, the Achuar nation and the first thing that it symbolises is respect.
"For us, this is a sign of respect. It's an honour to be bestowed on someone who's an authority, who has been - in this case of King Charles - very much committed to protecting biodiversity, to protecting nature.
“This is a symbol that we are bestowing on King Charles to show as a symbol of our growing alliance with His Majesty and also with other world leaders, people who are interested in aligning with indigenous peoples from the heart to protect nature.”
The chief said he would like to put the crown on the King’s head as a show of respect, adding: “In the name of the Actuar people and in the name of the sacred Headwaters Alliance I would like to offer him, His Majesty, I would like to offer His Majesty the crown to put on his head. That would be our way of delivering, presenting the crown to him.”
He joked: “I wanted to clarify that if the King is amenable to being given the crown on his head, we would love to present it to him, and if not we will just leave it for him.”
On the honour of being invited to an intimate audience with the King tomorrow, he said: “This gathering, this audience with his majesty tomorrow is quite a historic moment.
"It's a historic moment to deepen our alliance. It’s a historic moment to commit to the future. It is a really important moment to bring together the indigenous peoples and important people who care about the future of the planet."
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On how he felt seeing the King wearing an Amazonian bracelet in his first official portrait, one Uyunkar had given him, he said: “I think his humility, and his trust is very important.
"I come here with a lot of trust, a lot of humility and a lot of respect and feel honoured. I'm here to build this alliance that needs to serve all of humanity.
"For me, when I saw that he was wearing the bracelet that I had given him - for me, this was a complete sign of confidence and trust and respect for me.”
Asked if he wanted Charles to keep speaking out about the rainforest despite the fact he's now King and has announced he’s speaking less publicly about causes, Uyunkar said: “It's not important that he'd be publicly making declarations about the rainforest.
"What's important is that he can help bring together, convene, unite, create alliances, get people around the table and call for action that we need to basically protect the future of the planet.
"We are all children of Mother Earth, we all shared this planet in the future. It's time to band together with smiles, with our hearts open and with trust to build the future for all future of all life.”
The palace has not publicly announced the event, after King Charles promised to stand back from championing causes that could be seen as political when he inherited the throne from Queen Elizabeth II eight months ago.
When he was the Prince of Wales, he issued repeated warnings to the world over the rapid deforestation of the Amazon basin in South America - calling it "truly terrifying", and angering the Brazilian and Ecuadorian governments.
Uyunkar Domingo Peas is the elected head of the 30 indigenous tribal nations that surround the Amazon. The last he met the King was in February, when Domingo presented Charles with a brightly coloured beaded necklace during a reception inside Buckingham Palace in support of action on global biodiversity.
Watch First Edition with Tom Newton Dunn on TalkTV at 10pm.
