Prince Charles, Harrison Ford and Dalai Lama save rainforests on YouTube

From The Times

May 6, 2009

Valentine Low

It was a day of firsts yesterday for the Prince of Wales. He released his first YouTube video, an unremarkable event for most people but a momentous occasion for a Prince who still prefers the fountain pen to the e-mail. And, for the first and possibly last time in his life, he played second fiddle to a frog.

The video, which is aimed at boosting awareness of the plight of the rainforests, is a compendium of as many celebrities as it is possible to cram into one 90-second clip. As well as the Prince himself, and the Princes William and Harry, there are cameo appearances by Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Pele and the Dalai Lama.

But the star of the show is the frog. Fat, green, belchy and blessed with comic timing, the frog manages to steal the scene in every appearance it makes. Which, given that it is the product of computer-generated imagery, should probably not come as a surprise.

The video, which also features the comedian Robin Williams and singer Joss Stone, was released last night on a number of websites, including MySpace, in what Paddy Harverson, the Prince’s spokesman, described as a “unprecedented” move.

Mr Harverson did not really have to point that out. One does not need to be a royal expert to know that Prince Charles has not made many videos before in which he offers his views on deforestation and climate change while a frog sits on the sofa next to him.

The symbolism is not exactly subtle; frogs are among the best recognised inhabitants of the rainforests, and there is a rich seam of literary tradition linking princes and frogs. In this version, however, the frog remains unkissed.

The video is an imaginative move for a figure whose fogeyish tendencies often make him appear the enemy of anything modern. Not only has he made the video, he has released it with software that allows viewers to make their own version, complete with frog, Prince and self — “mash-ups,” as the Prince’s team referred to them, a trifle self-consciously.

“The Prince is not necessarily someone who is a regular user of the internet,” Mr Harverson said. “But he understands the power of the internet.”

The frog was created by Framestore, the Oscar-winning creators of the bear Iorek Byrnison in The Golden Compass, while the website was created by Blue State Digital, the internet consultancy behind the web component of Barack Obama’s election campaign.

In a webcast put out last night, the Prince said that the internet provided the opportunity for “global determination for change on a vitally important issue”.

Urging people to demonstrate their support by signing up to the website www.rainforestSOS.org, he added: “Our aim, with your help, is to build an online community to call, from the bottom up, for urgent action to protect the rainforests, without which we will most certainly lose the battle against catastrophic climate change.”

To make the video the Prince called in favours from people who are either friends of his or of his sons — a group that includes Robin Williams, Joss Stone and the Dalai Lama — or well-known conservationists, such as Harrison Ford. Or, as he describes himself on the film, “actor, conservationist ... friend of frogs”.

The video is the latest step in the Prince’s long-running campaign — now his primary passion, according to Clarence House — to draw attention to the destruction of the world’s rainforests and the effect it is having on climate change. Last month the Prince’s Rainforests Project released a report calling for emergency funding for rainforest nations so that they can bring a halt to deforestation.

The UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen may come up with a long-term solution, he says, but before then action is needed to solve the short-term crisis.

The film can be watched by logging on to YouTube, MySpace or www.rainforestSOS.org. Alternatively viewers can text SOS and their e-mail address to 60777.