The Queen has poked fun at the noisy aircraft favoured by US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama during a documentary celebrating a Commonwealth environmental project.
Chatting to Sir David Attenborough as they stroll through Buckingham Palace’s gardens the Queen says ‘sounds like President Trump, or President Obama’, when the peaceful setting is shattered by the sound of an aircraft. The UK is still waiting for the US leader to make an official trip, more than a year after Theresa May invited him, but by contrast Mr Obama and wife Michelle struck up a long-lasting friendship with the British royal family after his state visit in 2011. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, and her six children, also feature in the ITV documentary due to be screened next Monday, and she praises the Queen for supporting the project which aims to create a network of protected Commonwealth forests around the globe.
The actress described the Queen as a ‘really lovely lady who really cares about people around the world, and she really cares about the future, and she wants your grandkids and her grandkids to be able to be running around, enjoying nature and other cultures…’ The Queen’s lighthearted comment to Sir David, who has known the head of state for many years, was made in the Queen’s Green Planet documentary, which follows the progress of the project known as the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC). The documentary features a unique and informal conversation between the Queen and the veteran presenter, filmed last summer, as they walk through the palace’s gardens. Both aged 91 and born just a few weeks apart they discuss the QCC project which aims to establish a network of forest conservation initiatives across all 53 Commonwealth countries to mark the monarch’s lifetime service to the Commonwealth.
During another humorous moment the head of state spots a young sapling bent over and quips: ‘That one we won’t look at because it doesn’t seem to be doing very well. ‘Are you sure that’s meant to be like that?’ she says to someone off camera adding ‘somebody sat on it I think, at the garden party’. The pair stroll through the 40 acre gardens with the Queen telling the story of some of the trees planted by family members or for her children. The programme also features footage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry promoting the canopy project during official overseas visits to place like the Caribbean and Canada.
In a serious moment the Queen highlights the benefit of the network of safeguarded Commonwealth forests, telling Sir David: ‘I mean they’re all kinds of different (trees), different places that they’re growing in and all sorts of, different types of forest. ‘So, if all countries continue to plant, it might change the climate again.’ Jolie is filmed in Namibia with her children, where they plant a tree for the Queen, and the actress says: ‘The Queen’s Canopy project means so much and will mean so much to so many people.’ She goes on to say: ‘You know when you sit up at night in a tent with your kids and they say, ‘Why does the Queen of England care about planting trees in Africa?’ And to be able to explain that to them is a really nice way of being able to explain kind of the world at large and what should matter and why.’ The Queen’s Green Planet will be screened on ITV at 9pm on Monday April 16.
