The JustStopOil activists are on the loose around Europe again. This time they’ve chosen to stop off at Madame Tussauds in London — the museum of life-sized wax replicas of famous celebrities and icons.

So, who did they set their sights on? Kylie Jenner? Taylor Swift? Or any of the other gas-guzzling, private plane flying celebs? Nope. This time twenty-year-old Eilidh McFadden and twenty-nine-year-old Tom Johnson covered a waxwork model of King Charles III with chocolate cake.

 

Perhaps in their simple minds, this gesture made sense. Two fingers up to the Establishment and all that. But the new king is known for his extensive environmental campaigning. He even — to the dismay of many — attended the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year.

In a statement the protesters said: “We are here because we seek to protect our freedoms and rights, because we seek to protect this green and pleasant land which is the inheritance of us all.

“The science is clear. The demand is simple: just stop new oil and gas. It’s a piece of cake.”

Clever huh? Well, King Charles is so committed to going green that he converted his beautiful old Aston Martin DB6 to run on wine and cheese.

“I’ve got electric cars now but it’s been so difficult,” he told the BBC, in an interview covering climate change and his own efforts to lower his carbon footprint. “My old Aston Martin, which I’ve had for fifty-one years, runs on — can you believe this — surplus English white wine, and whey from the cheese process.”

The King even said last year that he totally understood the “frustration” climate campaigners felt. Nice one, guys. And Charles’s campaigning is nothing new: since the 1970s, Charles has supported causes through his charitable organizations, launched sustainability initiatives and served as patron for numerous environmental organizations.

According to his official website, around half of his office and domestic energy use comes from renewable sources such as wood chip boilers, air-source heat pumps, solar panels and “green” electricity.

And yes, Cockburn does understand that King Charles sits in a castle on a golden throne — but, if privilege is the problem, perhaps the self-entitled, bourgeois unemployed protesters should take a look in the mirror. JustStopOil is bankrolled in part by Aileen Getty, the heiress to the Getty oil fortune, and Abigail Disney, scion of the Disney family.

 

This latest attack follows the twenty-fourth day of the group’s campaign of civil unrest, which have seen them throw tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery and mashed potato on Claude Monet’s “Les Meules” (Grainstacks) at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, before gluing their hands to the wall.

Cockburn questions what’s next for these kooks. Maybe they’ll egg Greta?