King Charles has secretly recorded an episode of Unearthed: The Need For Seeds podcast with Cate Blanchett

King Charles has secretly recorded a podcast episode with Cate Blanchett.

Unearthed: The Need For Seeds features Oscar-winning actress Blanchett, 56, and the 76-year-old monarch, as well as Dr. Elinor Breman of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, talking about the Millennium Seed Bank.

The globally famous seed bank - opened by King Charles in 2000 and managed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - serves a vital role in preserving nature, and strives to protect plant species from being lost to climate change and environmental threats.

In the 22-minute podcast episode - which was recorded in Windsor, Berkshire, South West England, in July - Cate said: "There is an urgency to the work that the seed bank does.

"I was shocked to learn that 97 per cent of the wildflower meadows have been decimated.

"I don't think it's something that we quite understand here, because we look around us and in the immediate term, we see so much natural beauty.

"But we don't think how fragile it is."

King Charles said the work of the Millennium Seed Bank is vital in preserving biodiversity for many generations to come.

He added: "I thought it was a good excuse because I knew about the real damage that has been done to all our flower-rich meadows since the war, really."