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The summit took place against a charged backdrop for the monarch
The King gathered senior figures from the world's leading artificial intelligence companies at Dumfries House today for a landmark summit on the responsible development of the technology.
Representatives from Nvidia, Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic were among those attending, alongside AI Minister Kanishka Narayan and other industry leaders.
Thought leaders assembled by the King's Trust, the King's Foundation and the Sustainable Markets Initiative also took part in the discussions, which were facilitated by The Ditchley Foundation.
Prior to the formal talks getting under way, the King met attendees from across the AI sector to outline the gathering's purpose and posed for a group photograph.
The talks were designed to explore whether a common framework of principles could be established to shape how artificial intelligence is applied in the years ahead, not simply as a means of boosting productivity, but as a force that safeguards human dignity and supports the wellbeing of both people and the planet.
Participants examined how the fast-evolving technology might be harnessed to strengthen communities and improve lives.
The summit's ambitions reflect a desire to move beyond narrow questions of capability and efficiency, instead asking how AI's development can serve broader societal goals.
The discussions sought to lay the groundwork for principles that leaders, technologists and civil society representatives could collectively champion going forward, with the aim of ensuring the technology's benefits are widely shared.
Artificial intelligence has emerged as one of the most rapidly adopted technologies ever seen, with millions of people already integrating it into their everyday routines and gaining tangible benefits from its use, even as its swift evolution raises fresh challenges.
The decision to convene such a broad range of voices reflects the King's long-held conviction that the most consequential issues facing society are best tackled through cooperation, mutual understanding and open dialogue.
Drawing together participants from varied industries and walks of life is a hallmark of his approach to public life, rooted in the belief that no single sector holds all the answers.
The summit aimed to push forward collective thinking on how those principles might be adopted in the months and years to come.
The King's public engagement came just a day after Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of directly challenging claims made by Earl Spencer in a new memoir about Diana, Princess of Wales.
Responding on Wednesday evening, a Palace spokesman said: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."
A source close to the King rejected the Earl's allegations outright, saying the remarks attributed to him were "just not in his nature and it certainly wasn't in his nature at that time, when he was a man absolutely grief-stricken".
The source added that the then Prince of Wales was "paralysed with grief" and had broken with protocol to ensure Diana received a full state-style ceremonial funeral, including having her coffin draped in the royal standard for its return from Paris.
In his memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, serialised by the Daily Mail, Earl Spencer claims the disputed exchange occurred during a phone call about whether Princes William and Harry — then aged 15 and 12 — should walk behind their mother's coffin at the funeral procession on 6 September 1997.
The Earl alleges that the then Prince Charles cited his own experience of walking in Lord Mountbatten's funeral procession in 1979, and that when Spencer pointed out he had been 30 at the time, the Prince "went nuts".
According to the book, after a prolonged outburst, the Prince paused before delivering what the Earl interpreted as a moment of undisguised contempt: "Rest assured," he hissed, "we'll forget her soon enough!"
