Prince Charles, a vocal critic of climate change sceptics, has penned a Ladybird book on the subject after lamenting with experts the lack of a basic guide to the subject.

The prince has joined forces with two leading environmental campaigners to produce The Ladybird Book on Climate Change, the first in a new series aimed at adults, The Ladybird Expert, is to be published later this month.



Prince Charles’s book, written with Tony Juniper and Emily Shuckburgh. Photograph: Penguin/PA

The 48-page hardback, in the style of the iconic children’s Ladybird series popular in the 1960s and 70s, is co-authored by the former executive director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper, and Cambridge-based polar scientist, Emily Shuckburgh.

Perhaps mindful of the prince’s passionate views on the subject – he once called sceptics “the headless chicken brigade” – publishers Penguin Books have taken the precaution of having the book “extensively peer reviewed by figures within the environmental community”.



The idea is said to have come to Charles when he was invited to address the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris in 2015. Speaking with experts on the subject of global warming, he discussed with them the lack of a basic guide to the complex subject, a source said.



Penguin was approached in spring last year and the publisher was enthusiastic. After the prince and his co-authors produced their first draft, Penguin turned to David Warrilow, chairman of the climate science special interest group at the Royal Meteorological Society, and a team of seven other climate specialists to go through the 5,000-word manuscript before publication.







The final version was agreed in August, at a meeting at Balmoral, where the prince was holidaying.



The Ladybird books have enjoyed recent success with the publication of new spoof guides. The successful pastiche humour series – The Ladybird Books for Grown-ups, offering a take on everything from hipsters to mindfulness, and grandparents to sickies – have sold more than 3 million copies since 2015.



The approach to Penguin came at the right time. “It was a coincidence, where we were thinking about a new series for adults after the huge success of the spoof books, but this time wanted some factual books by experts on science, history and arts subjects,” White said. “So the call and the idea from Clarence House was the catalyst for the new series.”



The books feature illustrations in the old-fashioned style of the original Ladybird titles. The cover of Climate Change shows the East Sussex town of Uckfield, replicating a photograph of the devastating flooding there in October 2000.



“His Royal Highness, Emily and I had to work very hard to make sure that each word did its job, while at the same time working with the pictures to deliver the points we needed to make. I hope we’ve managed to paint a vivid picture, and like those iconic titles from the 60s and 70s, created a title that will stand the test of time,” Juniper told the Mail on Sunday.



Penguin said the series offers a bite-sized understanding of a challenging subject and that all the books in the new series have been written by leading lights in their fields, and provide informed expert opinions. More authors, including historian Suzannah Lipscomb, space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock and classical music critic Fiona Maddocks, have been signed up to write for the new adult series.



Charles has himself been the subject of a Ladybird book, published in 1981, on the occasion of his wedding to Lady Diana Spencer.

