The King has hosted a ceremony in honour of ‘mother earth’ at a gathering to promote his philosophy of ‘Harmony’.

Conducted by Mindahi Bastida, the ‘guardian’ and Ritual Ceremony Officer of a Mexican indigenous people group, the fire pit ceremony included incantations and ‘blessings’.

The ‘Harmony Summit’ was a collaboration between the King’s Foundation and the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, both founded by His Majesty, and Bastida’s ‘Earth Elders’ – a group that counts a medicine woman and a ‘healer of dreams’ among its leaders.

Incantations

Describing the event, BBC Royal Correspondent Sean Coughlan said: “We raised our arms in honour of nature as we stood around a fire, which was burning within a ring of flowers.”

During the ceremony, in which King Charles participated, Coughlan reported: “we rotated as we honoured the north, south, east and west and then Mother Earth”.

He also described a conch shell being blown, the holding up of feathers in a blessing to the King, and the reading of incantations.

According to Coughlan: “The King, in a light summer suit, spoke a few quiet words of welcome, wearing a circlet of feathers and a scarf that had been draped ceremonially around his shoulders.”

Coronation vow conflict

Bastida hailed the event as “an important step toward rebalancing our systems by centering Indigenous knowledge, protecting sacred lands, and remembering that true progress begins with listening to nature”.

He also said: “To move forward, we must go back — to restore our relationship with the Earth, guided by ancestral wisdom and original thought.”

The King’s Foundation has said His Majesty’s philosophy “sees everything in nature as interconnected, including ourselves. This means taking a holistic approach to the challenges facing our planet, and looking to solve these challenges by working with nature, rather than against her”.

Christian Institute Director Ciarán Kelly said: “The event and the philosophy underpinning it celebrates paganism and conflicts directly with His Majesty’s coronation vow to be the ‘Defender of the Faith’”.