King Charles attended the premiere of Sir David Attenborough’s new film, Ocean, in London – with the pair chatting and laughing together before the movie

The King attended the premiere of Sir David Attenborough’s “most important story” as he celebrated one of Britain’s national treasures.

Charles, a lifelong environmentalist, walked the ‘blue carpet’ at London’s Royal Festival Hall before heading inside to watch the beloved natural history TV presenter’s new film, Ocean with David Attenborough.

The pair chatted animatedly together as they met before the film, which sees Sir David deliver an urgent message about the importance of a healthy ocean, was played to 2,000 guests.

In the film, he describes the oceans as “the greatest asset against climate change” before adding a stark warning. “Today, it is in such poor health I would find it hard not to lose hope were it not for the most remarkable discovery of all,” he said. “If we save the sea, we save our world. After a lifetime of filming our planet, I’m sure nothing is more important.”

King Charles III and Sir David Attenborough were seen laughing and chatting during the premiere

The King arrived at the London venue at 7:30 pm and was met by a short line-up outside, which included actor Theo James, documentary photographer and campaigner Alice Aedy and Marine Ecologist Dr Enric Sala, who Charles wrote the foreword to his 2020 book ‘The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild’ when he was Prince of Wales.

He then made his way upstairs, where he met a second line-up of producers and partners of the film.

“How are you, Sir?” one person asked the King as he walked into the upstairs bar area, to which His Majesty replied: “I’m great”.

He was then introduced to Sir David and his daughter, Susan, and they chatted about the environmentalist’s upcoming 99th birthday on Thursday.

As the two stars of the evening were directed to stand in front of a backdrop to pose for photographs, Sir David turned around and noticed everyone had quietly left the room and made their way to their seats.

He joked: “They have all disappeared!”

Laughing, the pair chatted animatedly as they had their photographs taken before heading into the auditorium to watch the film.

King Charles is a lifelong environmentalist

Earlier, the King’s niece, Princess Eugenie shared a one-minute trailer for the film on her Instagram account. Toby Nowlan, who produced Ocean, described the film as Sir David’s “most important story he has ever told”. He said: “It is ultimately a story of hope for everyone on Earth. “The message is: if save the sea, we save our world.”

Asked how the film came about, the producer said: “A lot of people got together and said we need to make a seminal film to enact change for our ocean to be released now.”

Mr Nowlan went on to heap praise on the 98-year-old and said it was “a real privilege” to work alongside him.

“He’s the most incredible human, he’s a complete inspiration,” he said. “David Attenborough is everything you would hope he would be. He’s not just the most gifted and wonderful storyteller of our time, and has travelled and seen more of the world than any other and is in the best position to give us a story like this, he is also incredibly humble, he is incredibly good at listening. He’s just brilliant.”

The producer said it was “marvellous” that the King was attending the premiere tonight, adding: “It is absolutely wonderful, it is really, really marvellous.

“The prince and the king have done incredible things for the environmental world and conservation and this is just an extension of that.

The film is described as Sir David’s “most important story he has ever told”

“Their presence here really speaks to how this should be such a big moment in time. It could be such a moment in history to try and change and help save the ocean.”

Charles has met Sir David several times before as his work as an ambassador for the natural world and his passion for the planet overlap with the King’s own work to promote sustainability and protect nature and the oceans.

On February 19th 1970, His Majesty, as Prince of Wales, first marked the ‘growing menace’ of oil and plastic pollution in the sea, during a speech at the ‘Countryside In 1970’ conference.

Since then, the monarch has continued to champion the importance of the ocean. Ocean with David Attenborough will be released in cinemas on May 8, to coincide with Sir David’s 99th birthday.

It will be available to stream on Disney+ from Sunday, June 8.