“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. The approach to Penguin came at the right time. 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 Ladybird books have enjoyed recent success with the publication of new spoof guides. The final version was agreed in August, at a meeting at Balmoral, where the prince was holidaying. 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. Penguin was approached in spring last year and the publisher was enthusiastic.
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. 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.
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 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.
Prince Charles’s book, written with Tony Juniper and Emily Shuckburgh.
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