Queen tells world leaders Cop26 in Glasgow is time for action on climate change

The Queen’s told world leader’s Glasgow is the right place for them to meet at Cop26 to try to solve the “insurmountable problems” of climate change.

In a video message played during a welcoming reception for presidents and prime ministers at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Her Majesty said: “It is perhaps fitting that you have come together in Glasgow once a heartland of the industrial revolution, but now a place to address climate change.”

She said she hoped the summit's legacy would be that they recognised "the time for words has now moved to the time for action".

The Queen paid a heartfelt tribute to "my dear late husband" the Duke of Edinburgh for his environmental awareness in raising the issue more than 50 years ago.

Philip was an environmentalist before the word came into common use and he championed the natural world long before it was fashionable.

She added: "I remember well that in 1969, he told an academic gathering: 'If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment, it is as certain as anything can be, that the situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time... If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance.'

"It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet, lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William. I could not be more proud of them."

Do it for the kids

Acknowledging her own mortality, the Queen, whose health has caused concern after she decided not to attend the Glasgow conference when advised by doctors to rest, said not all would benefit from the leaders' actions as "none of us will live forever".

But any determination to confront the planet's environmental problems would benefit "our children's children".

Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge listened to her message which was recorded on Friday at Windsor Castle.

The head of state added: "I, for one, hope that this conference will be one of those rare occasions where everyone will have the chance to rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship.

"It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit - written in history books yet to be printed - will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations.

The Queen wore a butterfly brooch as she spoke, seated in front of a photograph of Philip admiring butterflies in Mexico in 1988.

Massive security

The streets connecting the Cop26 venue at the SEC and Kelvingrove were locked down for most of the day with estimates of as many as 2,000 police officers being present.

Climate activists, including members of Extinction Rebellion, lined Argyle Street in Glasgow as VIPs were driven in, some in iconic London red buses.

In side streets, impromptu protests formed.

Extinction Rebellion activist Anna, a nurse practitioner from Peterborough, was supporting her son Ollie, 27, who has been a member of the group since 2019 after reading an Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report in 2018.

Anna said she supports the action on medical grounds.

She said: "Our code of conduct says we should stand up and protest because it's our professional duty."

Anna said that she is in Glasgow for a week and had taken annual leave to protest.

Ollie said: "So far, protests in Glasgow have been quite chilled compared to demonstrations in London."

Further away, in Kelvingrove Park - about 800 metres from the Art Gallery reception, Extinction Rebellion members gathered to protest by banging drums and delivering speeches.

Afterwards, a group with many members from Pembrokeshire in South Wales served supper, including vegan haggis on paper plates with wooden cutlery, at a so-called "Beggar's Banquet".

World leaders at Cop26

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