Will King Charles TV change your life and save the planet? Probably not, but he’s brave to try | Stephen Bates

The monarch's new doc raises many questions. Why Amazon? Will it compete with Harry and Meghan - or Clarkson's Farm?

So King Charles is working on a feature-length documentary for Amazon Prime Video, which will apparently detail his philosophy on how to transform people, places and ultimately the planet". Times have changed. Before, you waited years for a royal TV project - now they all come along at once.

The royal documentary of old was a rare event, eagerly looked forward to, cherished and lovingly analysed - by royalists at least - for years to come: think of the BBC and ITV's Royal Family in 1969. Now they're ubiquitous, what with Harry and Meghan's Netflix programmes - including how to lay a dining table in someone else's house in California by Meghan - not to mention Channel 5's endless Saturday night royal documentaries.

Stephen Bates is a former Guardian royal correspondent and author of Royalty Inc: Britain's Best-known Brand