King Charles honours 10-year-old girl's request to plant tree

King Charles III plants a tree with 10-year-old environmentalist Karen Kimani on November 1, 2023. [Dennish Ochieng, Standard]

A request by a young Kenyan girl to plant a tree with King Charles III was on Wednesday, November 1, honoured.

The 10-year-old environmentalist, Karen Kimani, had written a letter to Buckingham Palace early in the year to ask if the King would plant a tree with her.

King Charles III would honour Kimani’s request on his second day of his visit to Kenya, where the two planted an Elgon Teak at Karura forest.

The 10-year-old, a conservationist, has already planted more than 10,000 trees and has an initiative dubbed ‘3Rs’ which focuses on Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling plastic.

King Charles III plants a tree with 10-year-old environmentalist Karen Kimani on November 1, 2023. [Dennish Ochieng, Standard]

In 2019, she represented Kenya in the Little Miss and Mr United World in Tenerife, Spain. 

During her debut walk down the runway, her plastic bottle-themed outfit and monologue on the importance of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling (3R) plastics won her a Silver Award.

The King has also been guided on a 700m forest walk to a tree planting site, accompanied by Wangari Mathaai’s daughter, Wanjira Mathaai and Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge.

The British monarchs also visited the UN headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi. 

Earlier Wednesday morning, they toured the Kariokor Cemetery, where he presented medals to world war heroes. 

King Charles III is in his first visit to a commonwealth nation since ascending to the throne last year. He is accompanied by Queen Camilla.