by Sean Coughlan, BBC
It wasn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill royal occasion.
In the sunny gardens of the Highgrove estate, I stood in a circle with King Charles and an eclectic group who were attending his first “Harmony Summit”.
We raised our arms in honour of nature as we stood around a fire, which was burning within a ring of flowers.
Presiding over the fire ceremony, in which we rotated as we honoured the north, south, east and west and then Mother Earth, was an Indigenous leader – an Earth Elder – wearing a headdress and a dazzling robe of blue feathers.
A conch shell was blown. Butterflies flew around the flowers. And, in a concession to modernity, as well as holding up feathers in a blessing for the King, the elder was reading his incantations from an iPhone.
There were people reaching to the sky, wearing colourful face paint and elaborate necklaces, while I held my palms up self-consciously, melting in my M&S suit.
The summit was a celebration of the King’s philosophy of harmony with nature – an inaugural event that the King’s Foundation hopes will become a regular gathering.
It brought together representatives from Indigenous peoples, including from tribes in the Amazon, along with environmentalists, climate campaigners, organic farmers, herbalists, educators, crafts people and philanthropists.
For good measure, there was Dwight from the US version of The Office, or at least actor Rainn Wilson, a director of a climate change group.
There were other visitors from Amazon too. A film crew from Amazon Prime, making a documentary for next year, who were poring over every moment as the sacred smoke coiled up over the apple trees in Gloucestershire.
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.
A humane, ruminative, humorous and quietly radical figure, he was at the centre of what he hopes will become the first of many such gatherings.
But it raised the question – and perhaps opened a window – into what the King believes. What is this thoughtful man really thinking about?