King Charles rebuffs offer to rename Heathrow Airport for Coronation

The palace reportedly rebuffed an offer to rename a Heathrow Terminal after King Charles III. Photo / 123rf, Britta Pedersen, AP

King Charles III has reportedly declined the honour of having a terminal at Heathrow Airport named after him.

The Times reported that Buckingham Palace turned down the airport’s offer earlier this year, via the transport ministry this year to spare embarrassment, but it is understood that the King was reluctant to accept.

Naming airports after sultans, premieres, Kings and Queens is nothing unusual. Saudi Arabia is currently planning the world’s largest airport named for the reigning King Salman Al Saud.

The US has seven named after former presidents, from George Bush International to New York’s J F Kennedy.

In 2014 Heathrow Terminal 2 was renamed the Queen Elizabeth Terminal.

However her heir is less keen on air travel.

Disruption: King Charles inspects Heathrow Airport security screening, on a 2018 official visit. Photo / Chris Jackson, Getty Images

Terminal 5, which was opened in 2008, was offered as a candidate for a new royal terminal at London’s largest airport. Government sources said that the offer was declined on the King’s behalf.

These sources told the newspaper that the King did not accept the offer out of “environmental considerations”.

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The airport serving Windsor and west London has long held favour with the royal family, particularly the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The Royal Residence of Windsor Castle is almost directly under the flightpath, to the irk of tourists.

“Why did they build Windsor Castle so close to the airport?” remains one of the top searched questions, according to Google.

As the departing point through which Queen Elizabeth set off on over 70 international state visits, as the world’s most jet-set monarch, it has seen plenty of royal patronage over the years.

Aircraft will be grounded at Heathrow and kept out of the skies during the Queen's state funeral on Monday. Photo / Nick Fewings, Unsplash

This heritage has been reflected in several ways, including the ‘Royal Suite’ in Terminal 4, which is a VIP lounge used to greet foreign heads of states and officials.

However there are strict naming conventions on any infrastructure which wishes to use the title ‘Royal’, ‘King’ of ‘Queen’. Any project must gain approval from the palace.

Despite the late Queen’s enthusiasm for air travel her descendants have been vocal opponents of aviation as a cause of climate change.

Speaking at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, Charles called for a “war-like footing” to address the challenges of fossil fuels.

Prince Harry also recently established a climate-conscious travel consultancy and charity called Travalyst, urging for responsible air travel.

With members of the royal family called out in the past over hypocrisy in the past, for use of private air travel, they are understandably hesitant to put their name or patronage to aviation projects.