All language subtitles for Steve.Backshalls.Royal.Arctic.Challenge.2025.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.LT]

STEVE BACKSHALL: Late April 1975,

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and young Prince Charles embarks
on a royal tour like no other...

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You can't be formal here.

Look at this.
HE CHUCKLES

Ten days in the frozen Arctic,
taking part in extreme adventure...

..and learning about the way of life
of local Inuit people.

It's a trip that will shape

the future King's lifelong passion
for the environment

and his belief in the importance
of living in harmony with nature.

Your Majesty, how are you, sir?
Very good to see you, Steve.

Thank God I was younger
in those days.

I could never have survived it now.
THEY CHUCKLE

Now, half a century on,
we're back in the Arctic,

following in the 26-year-old
prince's footsteps.

The Arctic
is an extraordinary place.

It's incredibly beautiful.
It can be brutal.

It's somewhere where you,
as a human being,

feel very, very small.

But it's changing faster
than anywhere else on Earth.

50 years to the day
since Prince Charles was here,

I want to find out
how it's changed -

and also see what the future is
for this fragile frozen frontier.

Yes! We have one.

Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
HE GASPS

Did you see that?

We've kind of got to ask ourselves
whether pushing on is a good idea.

LAUGHTER

I blew the thing up,
see how far it would go.

Yes. There is a slight air
of the Teletubby about that,

if you don't mind me saying.

LAUGHTER

There is more than a metre of ice
above my head right now.

This is a really dangerous place
to be.

SOFT THROAT SINGING

LAUGHTER

Well, that's a surreal sight.
Giant blue obelisk.

Inuit have always
depended on our dogs.

They're not our pets.
They're part of us.

Very few people
have seen this so far.

And we just retrieved this footage.

Are these their first steps?

Yeah, absolutely.

If it carries on like this,

all of this will be gone
within a matter of decades.

That's the tragedy now,
is that it's all going so fast.

I'm very glad I was able to see it.

And I just want others to be able
to witness the same things.

It's just under a month
to our Arctic expedition

when we receive
a very special invitation.

King Charles III
has asked us to meet him

at Buckingham Palace in London.

Your Majesty, how are you, sir?

Very good to see you, Steve.
So good to see you.

'It's a unique opportunity
to look back

'on the royal trip
and discuss our upcoming plans.'

I'm riveted that you want
to do this 50 years later.

Well, it seems so exciting.

I kind of wanted to start with this.

So, we found this
in the Yellowknife museum.

It's the only copy in existence.

And this is from your trip
back 50 years ago,

and it's got some wonderful imagery.

Is there anything overwhelming

that you remember
from that expedition?

Well, diving under the ice.

That I vividly remember. And also...

HE CHUCKLES

..failing to get
the dog sledge to work

because it had snowed overnight
before I got there.

So there was too much powder snow,

and the dogs couldn't...
couldn't pull it.

So then I had to run along behind,

which nearly killed me, dressed...
dressed like that.

Did you find, once you actually
got started on the dog sledding,

that it was a really
invigorating thing?

Yes, it was fantastic.
I couldn't agree more.

I don't know whether
they can still...

Do they still manage that all right
up there?

So, it's one of the things
that's changing most dramatically

over time because now,
the season in which they can...

It's so short.
Exactly.

But then, I guess this opportunity
to see how things have changed

in this 50 years since you were
there is the point of my expedition.

Exactly, yes.

And I presume the problem is that...

is the wildlife
facing these huge changes

and trying to adapt, but not
being able to do it quick enough.

That's right, yes.

Seeing all these images,
does it make you nostalgic at all?

Does it make you want to go back?
These?

Well, yes,
I think I'm too old to go back.

But yes, absolutely.

So thank God I was younger
in those days.

I could never have survived it now.

That is really quite something.

We're flying over Baffin Island,
far north Canada.

We're already above
the Arctic Circle,

and below me
is an endless expanse of fjords,

ice floes, pack ice...

and towering granite cliff faces,

some of the biggest
in the whole world.

This is where
then Prince Charles came in 1975.

And it's about
the best place on the planet

for a big adventure.

Heading due north from Ottawa,
we've a five-hour journey,

flying first into Iqaluit,

capital of the Inuit people's
territory of Nunavut,

and then further north

into the tiny hamlet
of Qikiqtarjuaq.

Our base for the first week
is even more remote -

a camp several hours' Ski-Doo ride
out of the hamlet.

What a morning.

We had heavy, heavy snow overnight.

But it's settled.

And although the going's
gonna be tough today,

it is jaw-droppingly beautiful.

My number-one mission
while I'm up here

is to go looking for
Arctic wildlife.

And always top of the wish list
is gonna be the polar bear.

You know, it's the icon
of the North.

And you're thinking about them
the whole time

because how you act up here

is sort of defined
by the possible presence of bears.

But you rarely see them.

Today, though, we have got
a secret weapon, which is Billy.

Nobody knows this area
better than he does.

So, what do you think, Billy?

What are our chances today
of seeing a bear?

Amazing.
Do you mind if I ride with you?

Sure, you can.

With the temperature
a relatively mild -12,

we head out over the frozen sea
on a journey of around three hours.

Our route takes us up overland
to another frozen inlet...

..the area where Billy feels

we have the best chance
of finding bears.

So, it's our first few hours
on polar bear search.

And you get a bit of a sense
of why this is such a challenge,

looking for a white bear
in a white world,

and an animal that specialises
in not being seen,

evading the eyes of animals
far more sensitive than we are.

It's just going to be about time.

Time, patience, and...

if it happens, it's the greatest
wildlife encounter on Earth.

So, we're gonna try and get
a little bit of elevation

so we can see further out
to the horizon,

get a better chance
to spot our bear.

Just up here, we've probably got
a fantastic vantage point.

Get the bins out,
see what we can see.

What do you think?

You see seals?

Are they likely to be
harp seals, ringed seals?

It looks like
an endless white plain,

like a savannah.

The giveaway that it's not that

is that every once in a while,
your eye gets caught

by a little dark dot,
and they're seals.

So this is prime stalking ground
for a polar bear.

As yet, I haven't
spotted one of those. But...

..they're out there.

'We head back down
to try and get a closer view

'of one of the seals.'

The ringed seal
lying on the snow ahead of us

looks so incongruous, just...

out, exposed
on this endless field of white.

But in front of it will be,
invisible to us, a breathing hole.

And it will be able
to dive into that

to escape from
any potential predators.

So, we're gonna give it
a bit of a wide berth.

But seeing this seal here

is a critical part of the puzzle.

It's the basis of
the polar bear's survival here.

This is their
number-one prey source.

The fat that comes from
the blubber of these seals

is their absolute key to survival.

Now, imagine trying to creep up
undetected on that seal.

It is 400 metres away from us

and is lifting up its head
because it can see, smell, hear us.

But polar bear food is here.

And that, for us,
is the perfect sign.

SKI-DOO REVS

We spend the next few hours

urgently searching for
our elusive bear.

But what we find
is a bit of a surprise.

At the centre here,
this is what's drawn my attention.

So, it's a good-sized...

carcass.

Erm...

I thought that this was gonna be
seal, but that's bear.

I really wasn't expecting that.

I thought I was gonna come over here
and find a polar bear kill.

But instead, this is
the remains of a polar bear.

And...

..in all likelihood,
this was from a confrontation

between two bears.

Well, that is not
how I wanted to find

our first polar bear here on Baffin.

We're clearly
in polar bear territory.

But with a long journey
back to camp,

we're running out of time.

Nothing.

Just these jumbled
blocks of blue ice

stretching out to the horizon.

What is tantalising

is that you can just see the
floe edge where the open sea begins.

And that's where
the majority of life is going to be.

'Unfortunately, we're still
probably a good hour away

'through the field of ice boulders,

'so it looks like we might
have to call it quits today.

'But we'll definitely
aim to be back,

'as the floe edge
is a critical place for wildlife,

'especially at this time of year.'

And one of the big challenges
with our changing planet is that...

all of this is no longer stable.

So, the ice is forming up
later in the year,

and it's breaking up
earlier in the year.

And all the animals
that are reliant on those rhythms

that have stood
since the end of the last Ice Age

are now being thrown into turmoil.

The bears that hunt here for seals,

the season when they can do that
is getting shorter and shorter.

The seals that rely on the sea ice

for giving birth to their young,

it's whether they can adapt
to those challenges fast enough.

But for us, this might
be a challenge too far,

today, at least.

WIND HOWLS

Reluctantly, we head back to camp.

But any disappointment
is quickly forgotten

as we get to witness the Arctic
at its most awe-inspiring.

Well, that's a surreal sight.

We've seen this from miles away...

and come on in.

It's kind of like
a giant blue obelisk,

or a finger pointing up
towards the heavens,

but it's an iceberg.

This would have formed as ice
way up in one of the high glaciers,

been compressed
until it eventually collapsed

at the end of the glacier,
floated out to sea,

and now it is fast...

that is fastened
tight within the ice.

It's such an intense blue
that it's hypnotic.

It almost seems to be
lit from within.

And the reason for that is
that this is ancient ice.

In some cases, these bergs
can be 100,000 years old.

As the ice is compressed,

it drives all of the air
from the inside.

It is rock, rock hard,
extraordinarily pure.

Utterly, exquisitely beautiful.

The Arctic's natural beauty left
a lasting impression on the King

when he came here
half a century ago.

It was amazing in those days
because it was still...

Thank God,
I saw as it should be, really.

So, quite a lot of this,

I think, was showing you
some of the local customs

and local ways of working,

building igloos, hunting,
those sorts of things.

Yes. And I learnt a great deal
from going there.

'I brought to the palace

'an unusual archive clip
we unearthed

'about a very particular
local practice.'

CANADIAN REPORTER: 'Prince Charles
got a real taste of the North

'during his visit to the
Frobisher Bay elementary school.'

You got ambushed by this
young girl... Small child, yes.

..offering you something, which
I presume you couldn't turn down.

I didn't think I could.

Do you eat it raw?
Yes, you eat it raw.

LAUGHING: It is considered...
very nice.

'Everyone knows that
raw seal liver is a great delicacy.

'And it was only polite to offer
some to His Royal Highness.'

LAUGHTER

Can we get a paper towel
for the Prince over there?

'Raw seal meat
is an important traditional food,

'high in vital vitamins
and other nutrients,

'but very much an acquired taste
to many non-Indigenous palates.'

Pretty extraordinary.
Have you ever tried it?

I-I haven't. I'm...

Raw seal's liver.
Yeah, I know.

Unbelievable.

It took some time to persuade
my gullet to work, to swallow it.

And then all the people
who were with me,

when I turned round to say,
why don't they come and taste them,

they'd all disappeared.

LAUGHTER
Never to be seen.

I'm pretty sure
I'd have done the same.

I'd have scarpered as well.

So, you talk an awful lot
through your work

about how important

the experience and the knowledge
of local people is.

Do you think
that's particularly true

for people living in the Arctic?

Absolutely. Well, they were
the ones who had to...

who lived there in some
amazing symbiotic relationship

with their environment.

And, you know,
for thousands of years,

they've developed
the most amazing knowledge

and wisdom about that area.

And I can see how difficult it is
for them to adapt

because the changes are so fast.

That's the problem, I think.

I mean, this is what I've been
trying to warn about for years.

Back in the Arctic, our local guides

have another long, bone-chilling
day in prospect for us.

We're leaving camp
on our second day,

heading out on polar bear search.

Saying goodbye to our nice,
warm, cosy building

and heading out into
the great white unknown again.

We've got at least three hours
to get out to the floe edge

and at least three hours back.

Then we need to spend, well,

who knows, as long as it takes
trying to find our bear.

'Unfortunately,
the further we travel,

'the worse the weather.'

Well, this is not good.

We've come into
complete whiteout conditions.

You can't see the horizon,

can't tell where the sky ends
and the land starts.

And if it wasn't
challenging enough already

to be looking for a white bear
in a white world,

all of a sudden,
we've got this absolutely...

..disorientating white glare.

We've kind of got to ask ourselves
whether pushing on is a good idea...

..or, frankly, a bit crazy.

We kind of know that the floe edge

is no more than half an hour away
in that direction.

But, I mean...

it looks the same
in every direction.

Oh, well.
No-one said it would be easy.

'Our head guide, Billy, thinks
the weather will soon improve,

'so it's safe to press on.

'But things quickly go
from bad to worse.'

REVVING

'The Ski-Doos keep getting stuck
in soft, slushy snow.

'It's well into the afternoon when,
finally, we glimpse the floe edge

'where we hope to find
our polar bear.'

We made it.

Two days to make it here
to the floe edge.

So many birds.

We have gulls.

We have fulmars, shearwaters...

'But no immediate sign of a bear.

'In the 50 years since
King Charles was in the Arctic,

'the timing of the floe edge
ice melt and refreezing

'has changed dramatically.'

Are you noticing the time of year
when this happens,

is that any different now
to when you were small?

Do you see it
affecting the animals at all?

Yeah, I keep scanning around,
just hoping to catch one.

I don't think there are any
here right now.

'After a difficult day,
time is against us once more.

'And, frustratingly, we again
have to abandon our search.'

We always knew finding a polar bear
was far from guaranteed.

And the hard reality

is that today is
our very last chance to spot one.

Wait, wait, Billy!

What are these tracks?

So, they're coming through here
and leading off in that direction.

They're probably
a couple of days old.

This is, at last,

our first sign
that there are bears around.

Maybe today's the day.

There, there, there,

and it's gone up over this island.

Do you think this would be
a couple of days ago? So...

Before the big snow?
Yeah.

OK.

So, should we head up the top here
and see if we can get a view?

Yes, we have one!

Two! There's two.

I could cry.
Mother and cub out on the ice.

'It just keeps getting better.

'The mum actually has
two cubs with her.'

She is, I would say,

a kilometre and a half away from us,

in the most perfect position.

Oh, I can honestly say
I don't think I've ever been

quite so emotional to find an animal
as I am at this second.

They're eating! They're feeding!

So, I've got a mother and two cubs,

and they are
in the process of feeding

on what looks like
a relatively fresh catch,

almost certainly seal.

This is best, best-case scenario.

Seeing these three
tiny dots of life

in amongst
this endless expanse of sea ice,

they seem so fragile.

The cubs are tiny now.

But when they're born,
they're, like, 600 grams,

you know, the size
of a bag of sugar.

And so now, this period of time
is the most critical in their lives.

If they don't feed now,

if they don't fatten themselves up
and grow,

they have no chance of survival.

What we do know
is that now the females,

due to the fact that
the ice is breaking up quicker,

are spending more time swimming.

They are in poorer condition,
have less body weight

and less chance
of their cubs succeeding

and growing to adulthood.

Oh, no, there, there.

Oh, my gosh. That's amazing.

HE GASPS
Did you see that?

So, right now,
do they only eat the blubber,

or will they eat everything?

Yeah.

And quite often,
them feeding on a seal carcass

will leave enough behind
for the Arctic foxes

and for the ravens and the gulls.

Yeah.

Her behaviour is changing.

Can you see? She's...

She's standing right up
with her snout in the air. Yeah.

I mean, I haven't had a shower
since we got here,

so it's not that surprising.
BILLY CHUCKLES

Well, Billy,
you did promise us a bear.

BILLY CHUCKLES
You've given us three.

That's pretty good.
Yeah.

It's been a lot of miles.

Since Prince Charles
came here 50 years ago,

the Arctic has warmed by an average

of over two degrees Celsius,

around three times faster
than the rest of the planet.

Global warming is largely caused

by the burning of fossil fuels
like oil and gas.

But as for why this remote region
is affected so badly,

well, that's
a bit of a vicious circle.

So, today, it's probably
around about -15.

But even so,
I'm still caked in sunblock

and wearing my sunglasses.

All of this white acts like
a mirror, reflecting the sun up.

And on a bigger scale,

what that does
is reflect heat back out into space.

It's called the albedo effect.

But in a few weeks' time,

all of this sea ice around me
is gonna melt.

And that is gonna be
the Arctic Ocean...

deep, deep blue.

That does the opposite,
so that acts like a heat sponge.

It soaks up the sun's rays

and leads to an increase in heating
across the Arctic Ocean.

This whole scenario creates
what's called feedback loops,

a cascade where an increase
in warming leads to less sea ice,

less reflection, more warming.

Over time,
it increases and increases.

And that is one of
the most catastrophic effects

of climate change
here in the Arctic.

An important way scientists monitor
the impact of this change

is by studying
the Arctic's spectacular glaciers.

So, today, our mission is
to head to the Coronation Glacier.

It's a very, very special
and beautiful place.

And it is an environment
that is changing so quickly.

Heading down a frozen fjord,

the first glimpse of the glacier
is simply breathtaking.

This massive blue wall
cutting right across the fjord

is the end, or terminus,
of the mighty glacier,

which extends back
over 20 miles up the valley.

And as we get close, it reveals
another stunning feature.

I have to admit,
I'm completely sideswiped.

I spend a lot of time on glaciers,
and I've never seen this before.

Due to some completely
unique circumstance,

the condition between
the thaw and the freeze,

these incredible
great, long icicles have formed,

each one like a five- or six-metre
ice harpoon,

hanging down in their hundreds.

'They're as deadly as they're rare.

'But even without them,
the terminus of a glacier

'is an inherently dangerous
place to be.'

All of these big chunks of ice
that are scattered around here

have fallen off
the end of the glacier.

It's always moving, it's breaking.
It's falling apart.

And some of the chunks
that will fall off

can be the size of office blocks
and weigh thousands of tonnes.

Coronation Glacier
has been studied extensively.

And a top glaciologist
shows me the extraordinary change

that's taken place since
Prince Charles was in the Arctic.

So, Luke, having been at the
terminus of the Coronation Glacier,

it's clear that there's a lot
of change been happening there.

And you've been studying
that change over time, right?

Yeah, that's true.
When we look at this glacier,

it's undergone dramatic changes
in the last 50 years and longer.

But at the terminus,
it's retreated about a kilometre,

a kilometre and a half,
in the last 50 years.

And that rate of retreat
has really accelerated

in the last ten, 20 years or so.

So, how have you managed
to measure that?

Yeah, we look at it in several ways.

We can look at satellite images.

So, here we see outlines

from a series of satellite images
back to the 1970s.

'These images are taken by
Landsat environmental satellites.

'And they provide cast-iron evidence
of that dramatic retreat

'since the royal trip in 1975,

'losing almost a mile in length.'

As it's retreated,
it's also revealed

something completely novel
inside the fjord.

Yeah, what's been kind of amazing
and really a surprise for us

is that we have a whole new island

that's appeared
right at the glacier terminus.

'It feels a little surreal,

'but I'm able to walk
to the top of this new island

'with our guide, Billy,

'who's been coming to the area
for many years.'

Billy, this is
a pretty unique place.

This island
that we're standing on right now,

when was the first time
that this became visible?

How do you feel about the fact

that the glacier
has lost so much ice

since you've been coming here?

One of the big problems
with trying to...

tell the stories of climate change
is that, for the most part,

it's this massive, big, woolly idea

that you never really see and feel.

The only place that climate change
becomes an absolute reality

is a glacier like this.

Where I'm standing right now,
within a decade or so,

all of this ice
is going to be gone.

And this mighty glacier,

one of the most beautiful places
you could ever see,

is being affected by our world,
our life, our choices.

Scientists warn we ignore these
melting glaciers at our peril.

These are way up
in the Arctic Circle there,

and very few people
are ever gonna see them.

So how is that likely
to impact the world?

On a global basis, the big impact
is really sea level rise.

Cities that are well away
from the coast,

there's perhaps not such
a major impact immediately.

But for cities
that are right on the coast,

so London is a good example,

you start rising sea levels
by a few tens of centimetres,

and you have a storm surge,
and you have a high tide,

well, that's enough
to start flooding large areas.

When I met King Charles in London,

he told me Indigenous peoples
have a critical role to play

in helping ensure
the future of the planet.

Their knowledge
is absolutely crucial now

for helping
to rescue the situation,

whether it's in terms of
climate change or biodiversity loss.

But we've forgotten, I think,
that we are,

as well, totally interconnected
with nature.

And the problem
is trying to rediscover

that connected link
between everything.

And we've been told that, you know,

whatever we do is somehow
separate from what happens

in the natural world, but it's not.

What we do to nature is...

is fundamentally
a disaster for ourselves.

The King was concerned as to
whether traditional activities

like dog sledding
are still surviving.

And so, today,
we've come to Iqaluit,

the capital of the Inuit territory
of Nunavut,

to check out a dog sled operation.

DOGS WHIMPERING

For me, this is one of my favourite
things to do in the world.

The energy of it,
the synergy between man and dog,

is an ancient thing,
a primal thing.

DOG HOWLS

And I love that excitement
as you approach,

the dogs in full voice,

knowing they're about to run.

DOGS HOWLING

Ullaakkut!
Ullaakkut. Ullaakkut.

I'm Steve.
Aliqa.

Aliqa. Steve.
Jovan.

Nice to meet you, Jovan.
Nice to meet you.

So, this is your team.

DOG WHINES

They are so excited, aren't they?
They are desperate to run.

DOG HOWLS

Can we meet your lead dog?

Yes, for sure.

This is our lead dog, Che.

Hey there, Che.

Hello. Oh, my gosh,
you are utterly beautiful.

Look at those eyes!

Whoa.

So, what are the characteristics

that you breed for
in the Inuit sled dog?

So, it all depends on
what you're going to use them for.

So, you can breed them to have
really good hunting instincts.

So, these dogs are natural hunters,

just like wolves are.

But our dogs,
we breed them for speed.

So our dogs are bred to have, like,

the long legs
and very strong characteristics.

I'm so sorry.
THEY LAUGH

The lead dog just took a wee
on our camera guys.

Yeah.
LAUGHTER

He's claiming his territory.
That's what they do.

They're like wild animals.

So, I noticed that Che has quite
a lot of scarring to the muzzle.

Yeah.
What's that from?

Fighting within the pack.

They're always figuring out
or asserting their role

within the dog team.

So, like, you can see
one of the dogs right now

actually have a big gash
on the cheek

because there was a big fight
the other day

because there's been
a lot of misbehaving.

In 1975, then Prince Charles
had his own experience

of unruly dogs.

Most of the time, the dogs all...

all got caught up in a kind of
cat's cradle in the harness.

Unbelievable.

Half of them were in season.

So half the dogs went berserk
about the other, the bitches.

It was chaos most of the time.

DOGS BARKING,
WHINING

This leg.

Oh, you're beautiful.

Oh, I think you might be
my favourite.

Then do the same with the last dog.

DOGS BARKING

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Hey, hey!

Hey!

I love how the energy changes as
soon as you start moving... Yeah.

..from them all being
so frantic and noisy

to all of a sudden, the job is on

and they're just silent,
heads down.

They're focused.
Yeah.

Yeah. They love it.
I see why you love it so much. Yeah.

Especially being out on the land.

Let's go! Let's go!

'The experience is a world apart

'from our frenetic days
spent on Ski-Doos.'

With dogs, as you can see,

you're more intimate
with the environment.

But it's a different connection
to the natural world.

Whereas a Ski-Doo is very loud,
and it breaks down,

dogs don't break down.

Inuit used to say
that people started dying

from falling through thin ice

when they started
using snowmobiles.

Because dogs know
and they can sense it,

whereas with a snowmobile,
you have to trust the human, right?

And as humans, we're not
as connected to the environment

as animals are.

'As we head further out
into the frozen bay,

'the snow gets heavier and heavier.

'But the dogs seem completely
at one with the conditions.'

So, when did you
first start doing this,

running with the dogs?

With my dad,
when I was young, young.

My dad had a big team.

And he used them for hunting
and checking nets and everything,

so he would often take me with him.

And, like, it's always the kid's job
to socialise the puppies and stuff.

That whole way of using dogs
in the traditional way,

does that still exist?

Yes, it does.

Not so much here in Iqaluit.
We use them more for leisure.

But in smaller communities,

there's still a lot of hunters
that use them for hunting

and for camping,
for looking for polar bears.

It's so heartening to see
that that's still existing.

Yeah. There's not a time
in Inuit history

where dogs and Inuit
don't co-exist together, you know?

Yeah.

So dogs have always been
a part of our family.

They're not our pets.
They're part of us, you know?

DOGS BARKING,
ALIQA SHOUTING

Much as Prince Charles
loved dog sledding,

the adventurous side of him

also took to
a relatively newfangled machine

that was to transform
life in the Arctic.

I've got one piece
that I need to show you,

which, I have to admit,
I was flabbergasted when I saw it.

This is you out on a Ski-Doo...

A Ski-Doo, yes.

Travelling, apparently,
at 50 miles an hour

out across the ice floes.

Can you remember the sensation?

Absolutely frozen solid!
STEVE LAUGHS

I lost all sensation of feeling
in my hands and everything.

But, yeah, it was quite exciting.

There was no point
in going too slowly, I suppose.

ENGINE TURNS OVER

'I'm going to try
and check out the scale

'of the young prince's
achievement all that time ago.'

I am not by nature a petrolhead.

But I have to admit,
this is pretty exhilarating.

Even on a day like today,
which is only,

I guess, about -15,

you're creating your own wind.

And the windchill
makes it feel like -30 or -40.

So every exposed body part
just freezes in an instant.

I can barely talk because
my entire face is freezing.

It kind of blows my mind
that the man who would be king

was allowed to go
racing across the ice floes

at that sort of speed.

So, he was skimming across the snow
at 50 miles an hour,

and not on a modern version
like this,

but what looked like a bright yellow
fairground dodgem car

mounted on skis.

But I guess it shows
the nature of the man

that he just wanted
to give it a crack.

'So, I'm going to see
if I can beat his speed

'on my much more advanced machine.

'50 miles an hour is the equivalent

'of around 80 kilometres an hour
on this speedo.

'The frozen sea is often
nowhere near as flat as it looks.

'And as I get towards
60 kilometres an hour,

'it starts to feel like
extreme off-road racing.

'I clock a maximum
of 61 kilometres an hour,

'not even 40 miles an hour.'

This is more than fast enough
for me.

'It's a good ten miles an hour
below the Prince's top speed.

'Hats off to the future King.'

Back in 1975,

when then Prince Charles
came here to Baffin Island,

the number one thing he did
on his expedition was an ice dive.

They cut a hole in the sea ice,
went down through it.

We're gonna try
and recreate that today.

You could cut your hole in the ice
pretty much anywhere.

But then we saw this iceberg
and kind of figured,

why not do it here?

'Digging the hole
is a major operation.

'Even though it's now spring,
the ice remains pretty solid.'

Is it OK to stand here, Jacob?

Yeah.
Yeah.

It's much deeper than I expected.

It's well over a metre thick.

Woohoo!

There she blows!

That's it, completed.

Our gateway into the underworld.

It's kind of a little bit
unsettling, standing on the edge.

It's almost like
being on a cliff edge...

with the abyss below you.

It's kind of hypnotic,

inviting and terrifying
in equal measure.

When I met the King,
the extreme ice dive

was understandably top of his list
of memorable activities.

Many of the things that you did

must have given your security detail
a headache or two.

And definitely,
the one of those, I think,

is going to most
take people by surprise

is you diving under the ice.

Yes, I know.
That I vividly remember.

But I'm afraid I've always
tended to live life dangerously.

Well, yes.

Prince Charles learned to scuba dive
in the Royal Navy,

but had never previously
done a dive in the Arctic.

The problem was, it took hours
to get into this suit.

And wondering...

And then you wonder
where the leaks are going to be

cos it actually gets extremely
kind of... Have you done it?

Yes, yeah.
You have.

And we will be aiming
to redo what you did as well.

And even now, it's still...

something that puts your heart
in your mouth. Yes.

How was it when you actually sat
on that ice ledge at the beginning?

How did it feel,
that moment before plunging in?

Well, "take a deep breath and try"
is the only answer I found.

Tasked with overseeing
the young Prince's dive

was Joe MacInnis, one of
the world's top Arctic divers.

Now 88, I visit him
at his home in Toronto.

So, you had phenomenal experience.

But even so, I can imagine
few more intimidating things

than having the heir to the throne

rock up in your patch
to do something that was...

just staggeringly dangerous!

I mean, can you take us back
to that moment and how you felt?

Erm...

We went up a week in advance,

made practice dive, rehearsed.

We planned, we practised,
and there were some prayers.

THEY LAUGH

Because the prayer was,
"Please don't let me screw up!"

THEY LAUGH

And so here I am, taking the future
King of England underwater.

And I'm carrying
this kind of burden of...

of knowledge
of what the hell can go wrong.

And there are a long list of things.

Do you think his security detail

knew that long list
of things that could go wrong? No.

No. I think we were very lucky.

They... They were not divers.

They didn't realise the risks.

I mean, they had an intuitive sense.

But no, I don't think they did.

But at the same time, to give him

that transcendent experience,

which has been so huge in his life,

I mean, what an opportunity.

It was for me.

I just felt a huge privilege

to give this
extraordinary human being,

who was 26 at the time,

a close-up,
intimate look at this world,

this universe underneath the ice.

He wanted to see this alien place.

He wanted to test himself.

He was very keen to...

to see how he could
deal with the stress.

Ooh!

It's getting cold out.

Wow. It's so much more forbidding
with a little bit of wind.

I'm going to put a little bit of
my hot tea into my gloves

in the vain hope that that
is gonna make any difference.

Oh, they're starting
to freeze already.

That's not good.

Oh, my gosh!

Wow!

I love the way that
your bubbles form a mirror,

constantly shifting
on the underside of the ice.

It's incredibly beautiful.

But at the same time,
it's a reminder

that there is more than a metre
of ice above my head right now.

This is a really dangerous
place to be.

'And as if to emphasise
just how dangerous,

'our diving cameraman
suddenly has a serious issue

'and has to quickly resurface.

'His air regulator has frozen open,
and he's losing all his air.'

Turn it off?
Yeah, turn it off.

You run the hot water there?
Try it.

'Fortunately,
he's able to thaw it out,

'and he gets the OK to continue.

'There was no underwater cameraman
to film the Prince's dive in 1975.

'But we've been given access

'to photos in
the King's private collection.'

There are images here
of you actually under the ice.

And this is almost the definition
of anxiety for most people,

just that sense of claustrophobia,
of not being able to get out,

of the ice over your head.

I mean, wasn't that intimidating?

Well, slightly. Cos you don't
quite know what to expect

till you get under there.

The problem with diving like this
is getting your ballast right.

And even though
I had these buttons to press,

which either inflate you
or deflate you,

didn't make any difference at all

because Joe MacInnis
went down to the bottom -

which you could see

cos it's so clear,
the water, incredible -

and he kept going like this.

And I was literally bob...

bobbing up against
the underside of the ice.

And whatever I did,
I went straight back up again.

But no,
it was a fascinating experience.

I wouldn't have missed it
for anything.

In Toronto,
dive master Joe MacInnis

has quite a surprise in store.

I feel like
I'm about to be subjected

to some kind of test or game, Joe.

No, I dug into the archive,
and guess what I found?

No! Oh, my gosh. You're joking?

This is...

This is the suit that he wore.

You're not serious?

I am very serious.

I've seen this
on 50-year-old newsreel.

That's incredible.
This is it, 50-year-old unisuit.

Essential part of it is,
it has a low pressure valve,

which air goes into the suit,
into the arms, into the legs,

and creates a kind of insulation
to keep warm.

So, when you dive, you add air.

And when you come back up
to the surface,

you press the exhaust button.

You've got him
into this remarkable suit.

Talk me through
how the dive progressed.

The first thing he had to do
was to test his buoyancy.

And he had trouble.
He struggled with it.

He added too much air to the suit.

I'm looking up, and he's hitting,
gently, his head against the ice.

He was uncomfortable at first,
but then he got it.

So, I motioned for him to follow me.

And we swam under the ice, west,

headed towards the shore-fast ice,

where, as you know,
the ice from the polar pack

eventually rams against the shore,

and it breaks up into these huge
blocks that are at weird angles.

And they're cracked and fissured.

This stopped us
because of the beauty.

The light is kind of like
a twilight,

strange light in the ice itself.

And I realised
that he saw first-hand

the power of the ice

that could penetrate
the wooden hull

of a 19th-century British ship
and sink it.

And, of course, there were
lots of ships that went down.

It was ice... as malevolent
as beauty can be.

'I'm about to experience
something very similar

'as I search out the iceberg
close to our dive hole.'

That is utterly extraordinary!

I mean,
I was expecting it to be cool.

But that is just mind-blowing!

Like an alien spaceship that's
crashed down through the ice,

lit from within.

Below us, it just drops off
into infinity.

It gives you vertigo,
looking down at it,

all these scalloped markings

where the waves
have been washing against it.

Hypnotically beautiful.

'Just like the royal party,

'I have only around
30 minutes' worth of air

'before I have to resurface.

'Towards the end of their dive,

'Joe MacInnis
had a surreal last experience

'for the future King.'

So, I'd like you to turn around.

And I swam up behind the Prince.

And...

I tapped him on the shoulder, and...

..and this is what he saw.

THEY LAUGH

And he took the hat
and the umbrella.

And it was amazing. At first...

When he first saw me,
his eyes widened.

He thought I'd gone mad.

And then he started to laugh.

And I could see the mirth lines.

I could hear this "Hm, hm, hm"

And I thought,
"Oh, my God, he's gonna...

"he's gonna swallow
the whole ocean!"

But no, he got into the spirit.

He took the hat, put it on,
put the umbrella on.

And he floated up
towards the dive hole,

very slowly,
trailing a stream of bubbles,

like Mary Poppins
in the flying nanny scene.

And it was a glorious thing
to see him disappear in that way.

Is this... Is this the actual hat?

That's the hat.
The actual hat? Yes.

One picture here that
I'd love you to tell us about...

Isn't that a bowler hat?
That is a bowler hat.

So it is. We had some laughs.

Anyway, I thought
it would be rather fun

coming back up with the hat on.

And I thought,
"A chance to fool around."

Do you know what? We have...
We have the evidence of that.

Can I show you?
Yes, yes, yes.

So, this is you coming up
to the surface with Joe.

With a rather
collapsed-looking bowler. Yes!

CHARLES CHUCKLES

LAUGHTER

THEY LAUGH

'I blew the thing up,
see how far it would go.'

'Yes. There is a slight air
of the Teletubby about that,

'if you don't mind me saying.'

MAN: Can you tell us how it was?
It was... It was splendid.

It was very, very interesting
indeed, I must say.

'Bloody cold.'
LAUGHTER

What?
What's happened to you?

Well, I tell you,
we put the air in here, you see.

And if you now do
an amazing thing...

AIR HISSING

LAUGHTER

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

HE CHUCKLES

Look around this side here.

Look, do you see...

Yes, it was a silly joke, really.

While in the Arctic,

Prince Charles gained
a much greater understanding

of how Inuit peoples use Arctic
animals sustainably for food...

..and for much else besides.

It's a connection
that's increasingly under threat

as the climate warms.

And nothing symbolises this more

than the plight of one particular
population of caribou.

The Dolphin and Union caribou
are so named

because they migrate north in spring
over the Dolphin and Union Strait

to their summer feeding grounds
on Victoria Island,

returning south to the mainland
in the autumn.

But now, with global warming,

the population
has declined disastrously.

Historically,
it's been well into May

when this special type of deer

gather to migrate
over the frozen strait.

But this year, they've been arriving
around a month earlier.

Filming these remote animals for us

is local cameraman and biologist
Mathieu Dumond.

He's 1,000 miles
to the west of our location,

and I catch up with him
on a satellite video link.

Mathieu, hello.

Good morning.

It's so, so nice to speak to you.
Thank you for giving us the time.

Oh, my pleasure.

So, what can you tell me
about what you're seeing right now

with the caribou in your area?

That is obviously
a catastrophic decline

over such a relatively
short period of time.

What are your thoughts on
the main drivers of that decline?

So they go through
the whole energy expenditure

of making the migration.

They possibly fall through the ice.

And then they arrive in a place

where there simply isn't the food
to revitalise themselves.

WOLF HOWLS

Indigenous peoples have always had

a special, almost spiritual,
connection with caribou.

So the decline
of the Dolphin and Union population

has been felt very deeply.

Mathieu's wife, Amanda,

manages the local
hunters' organisation.

All caribou have been
a really, like,

a vital part of Inuit culture.

We rely on the whole animal
for survival.

And it has been like that for...

for generations and generations,

from eating the meat
to preserving it for the winter use,

from the hide,

from the bones and antlers
for tools and equipment.

But now Amanda's hunting association
is taking the lead

in limiting the taking of caribou
in the region

as part of efforts
to help numbers grow again.

It's been difficult.

For my family, we haven't harvested
a Dolphin and Union caribou in...

got to be 13, 14 years,

definitely since
before my son was born.

You know, it is our way of life.

We grew up being out there.

We grew up hunting and fishing.

I remember a couple of years ago,

we were at the spring camp,
and we saw a caribou.

And, you know, my niece said,
"We should go and get it."

And I said, "We can't."

It broke my heart
to say that. And...

You know, like,
I get really emotional

thinking about it because...

that would have been
an opportunity for...

for us to teach our young children

about all of our
traditional practices.

If I can't teach him,

then he won't be able
to teach his kids and his grandkids.

And that worries me because,

all of a sudden,
parts of our culture is gone.

In such an extreme environment,

Inuit peoples have always
been proud of their ability

to adapt to change.

But they've never
had to cope with a threat

as big as global warming.

In one part, I am very optimistic

because of all the things
that we are doing,

all the sacrifices
that we are making today

in hopes that, you know,
my son and his kids

will have caribou
or other animals in the future.

But when you throw in things
that's kind of out of your control,

like climate change,
it is worrisome.

Because, you know,

will the sea ice -
someday, will it not freeze?

And it scares me a lot.

You know, will we see
the end of the caribou?

And that will be
such a loss to our people.

Helping come
to the aid of the caribou

is some of the latest AI technology.

A project called IceNet
is predicting

when the Arctic sea ice
will form and melt each year.

And it's over 90% accurate
up to three months in advance.

IceNet scientists are working
with the Nunavut government

and environment group WWF
to help with the caribou migration.

So, my research, I looked at linking
the tracking data from the caribou

with satellite observations
of sea ice.

And we found this
really strong link, actually,

between the two data types.

And so, in this animation,

the red dots show
the caribou which were collared,

so the government of Nunavut data.

And the grid cells here
show sea ice concentration.

So, blue means open water,

and it gets more yellow
as it's frozen up.

So, you can see in this area,
the gulf freezes from east to west.

And you can even see a caribou
makes an early crossing there.

But in general,
the majority of the herd

wait for these really high
concentration values

before they make this sort of
big push across the sea ice.

So, what we found is
there was a strong link

between high concentration
in our data

of 90%-plus concentration,

and most of the herd
starting to migrate then.

Such an accurate prediction

of when the caribou will migrate
is invaluable

in a world where
it's a different date each year.

For example,
a big issue for the animals

is ships ploughing through
the strait

as soon as the ice starts thinning,

completely destroying
their migration route.

For local decision-makers,

that means
that they have better information,

so they can communicate
to vessel operators and say,

"We think the caribou are
going to cut across in three weeks.

"Please avoid that area."

To try and stop them
disrupting the caribou.

And now the IceNet team

are looking at developing
other wildlife conservation apps

for the powerful AI tech.

One example is looking at
whether we could

give early warning
of when polar bears

are gonna come off the land
near to communities.

That could give
really valuable information

on when we might see increased
human-polar bear conflict.

Another piece of technology
helping manage increased risk

is SmartICE,

supporting local people
as the ice gets thinner.

So, we're now out of town
and on the sea ice.

The measurements we're taking now

can add to the thousands of years
of local knowledge and experience

to give a better understanding

of when the sea ice
is OK to travel across.

Sometimes in the spring
and the fall,

it might look solid, but
a person could plunge through it.

So these readings
are hugely important,

especially now, as global warming
changes everything.

Inside the orange box
is a radar device,

which constantly measures
how thick the ice is

and relays the reading
to the screen up front.

Operator Akeesho
does regular SmartICE runs

and uploads the results
to the local community.

But first,
he cross-checks the readings

by taking a physical measurement
of the ice thickness.

So, we're gonna do it
the old-fashioned way, yeah?

Oh, yes, old-fashioned way.
Good old muscles.

Good old muscles.
Yeah.

That I can do.
Yeah.

When it pops through,
we can check this

against the measurements
you're getting from the machine?

Yes, yes.
That might have just gone through.

Yeah, gone through.

Woohoo!
Yes.

There's a plumb line.
Yeah.

Reading three feet, seven inches.

Three feet seven,
so that's just over a metre.

Yeah. And the snow
is about one feet.

'On this occasion,
the SmartICE reading

'gives exactly the same
ice thickness.

'But Akeesho calibrates it
slightly lower

'to build in a safety margin.'

If it's reading three feet,
seven inches... Yeah.

..I'm gonna have to put it on...

three feet, six inches,

give that extra inch safety.

As soon as we arrive
back in Iqaluit,

Akeesho uploads all the day's data
to a local app.

We just go on to the SIKU app here.

Anybody thinking of doing
a similar journey

can simply log in
and see the thickness of the ice

at any point on the route.

This is so amazing, though,

that someone could
just have their phone out,

be able to move it around
along the line they want to go on

and see that it's gonna be OK,
just like that, in a second.

Yeah.
Very strong.

Throughout his life,

Canada has been one of
the King's favourite destinations.

He's visited the country 20 times,

from his recent trip
to open Canada's parliament,

his first as head of state...

Pray be seated.
Veuillez vous asseoir.

..to many less formal visits
over the years,

such as here in 2017,

when he enjoyed
the ancient Inuit tradition

of throat singing.

THROAT SINGING

He first witnessed
this unusual entertainment

during his solo trip 50 years ago.

And to find out more,

I arranged to meet
two throat singers

in the centre of Iqaluit.

How are you? My name's Mary.
Very good.

Hi, Mary. How are you? I'm Steve.

Hi. Alassua.
Hi, hi.

THROAT SINGING

'It turns out,

'throat singing is far from
some sort of sacred ritual.'

THROAT SINGING CONTINUES

LAUGHTER

'It actually evolved
as a way to have a lot of fun.

'And it's practiced
almost exclusively by women.'

So, if it's competitive,

how do you win, and how do you lose?

If you laugh first?
BOTH: Yeah.

So you're deliberately
trying to throw each other off?

Yeah. Exactly.
Make the other one laugh first?

Yeah.

It's kind of...
It's a little bit like a rap battle.

Kind of, yeah!

LAUGHTER
Marginally, sure.

THROAT SINGING

'Throat songs often imitate
the sounds of nature -

'in this case, an Arctic bird.'

SHORT, CHIRPING NOTES

LAUGHTER

That's wonderful.
I can hear it. I can...

The little sound
that comes from back here

is exactly like the sound.

It's exactly like the sound.

BREATHY THROAT SINGING

'Alassua and Mary also show me
a traditional song

'inspired by the walrus.'

BREATHY THROAT SINGING

Oops.
LAUGHTER

That was absolutely wonderful -

to see you keeping alive
something that has

so much of the story of the region
embedded in it.

It's just beautiful.

50 years ago,

Prince Charles also came here,
to a hamlet called Pangnirtung,

where he was shown another way

Inuit women
are keeping their history alive,

weaving intricate tapestries
representing Indigenous life.

While the workshop he visited
has long since been rebuilt,

remarkably, we find Kawtysie,

one of the weavers he met,
still working hard at her loom.

Through a sign language
interpreter,

she tells me she remembers

the Prince's plane
landed on the sea ice

as there was no airport
in those days.

When the royal party came in,

Kawtysie was weaving
a small tapestry.

But she was very shy,
so she just kept her head down.

LAUGHTER

SPEAKING INUKTITUT

Rosie was only eight in 1975,

but remembers clearly
the special day

Prince Charles
came to her village school.

Every student had to be present.

And we had to wear
our traditional children's parka.

That was the first time
I saw a prince.

He looked... scary.

What, scary? Why scary?

Maybe because he was a prince.

I mean, fair enough.

HE LAUGHS

He was shaking hands,
and he was all smiles, excited.

He was happy to be here.

Is there any message you'd like me
to pass on from Pang?

People have never forgotten him
for coming here.

I think that will mean a lot to him.
Yes.

I think it will.

I talk about it to my children
and my grandchildren, so...

I won't let them forget it.

When the King heard
we were making this film

exactly 50 years on,

he told me he was especially keen

that it communicated
the urgency of taking action.

Well, I mean, I think
to try and bring the message

to as many people as possible

of how much it has changed
and what this actually means,

in terms of, you know,
the collective human future,

let alone
the rest of the natural world.

We're prejudicing their chances
of any kind of survival.

As a frequent visitor to the Arctic
in recent years,

there's something
that I find especially upsetting.

It's quite a sight,
standing here at the floe edge

and seeing maybe half a dozen
different species of birds.

And we are so far away
from people here. You know?

We are a day and a half,
two days away

from the nearest small town.

It would seem that
we are at the final frontier,

as wild as you can get
in the modern world.

But yet even here,

these birds are deeply affected
by our actions.

The shocking fact
is that plastic pollution

from elsewhere on the planet

is reaching even this
incredibly remote spot.

Jennifer Provencher
is a leading research scientist

into pollution in Arctic sea birds.

And I join her in the lab

at Canada's Museum of Nature
in Ottawa.

So, should we see what our
shearwater was eating or not eating?

Absolutely.

'Today, she's examining
the stomach contents

'of two short-tailed shearwaters,

'long-distance migrants that spend
most of their life at sea.'

There's at least one little piece
of plastic in there that we can see.

Certainly,
this is not what I would call

a normal, healthy-looking
sea bird stomach.

Would you expect to be finding
little bits of krill carapace?

Yeah, exactly.

Maybe fish bones.
Exactly.

So, we can take these
over to our microscope now

and actually start to take a look.

Kind of got this grouping
down here that look like plastics.

And of course, we can
test them to make sure

what type of polymer we are.

And probably just as important
is what's not there.

Exactly.

Nothing from the marine environment,
really, at all,

you know, except for
these plastic pieces,

which were probably ingested
at sea, in the ocean,

and really just got
stuck in the stomach.

And it couldn't pass it
through its intestine,

so they can feel full

and basically be malnourished
all at the same time.

'The second shearwater appears
to contain even more plastic.'

Now, that, my friend,
would be a nurdle, probably.

Oh, really?

So, you can see
how it's really circular.

Again, we'll have to wash it up
and test it to really make sure.

But at least a few of these
are looking very nurdle-esque.

And so, what is a nurdle?

So, nurdles
are stock pieces of plastic

that are different colours,
have different additives to it.

And then companies that make
children's toys or computers

would melt it down
and make different items out of it.

And then, I would say,
at least one piece

of kind of plastic rope
or fragment fibre here

that we can see.

Sadly, this is nothing unusual.

Over three quarters
of some types of Arctic sea birds

are found to have plastic
in their stomachs.

Another piece, you can see that's
a very probably likely fragment.

The results are disturbing.

But the research
can lead to positive outcomes.

By gathering evidence
of different pollutants

in birds over many years,

Jennifer's team have helped turn
the tide on several toxic products.

Having that good understanding
of the problem,

working with policy-makers
to see those changes through

and following the evidence
and science along,

we can start to see
really good changes.

While primary research like this
provides a ray of hope,

I detected a hint of frustration
from King Charles

that humanity
isn't acting on it more quickly.

This is the problem, isn't it?

Why is it taking so long?

By which time, it's almost
too late to... to rectify.

That's my great worry about it.

Because you get to a tipping point,

which is what all the scientists
have been talking about.

These things are rescue-able,

but seems very peculiar to me
that in other areas,

everybody takes what the scientists
are saying as absolute, vital truth.

But in this case, for some reason,
it's not so, apparently, simple.

In the meantime,

dedicated scientists
and conservationists

are gaining as much knowledge
as possible

to help Arctic animals survive.

The charity
Polar Bears International, PBI,

has undertaken a remarkable
long-term research programme

that is unlocking critical secrets
of polar bear reproduction.

The project started in Alaska

and now operates in Svalbard,
in Norway,

using remote cameras
to observe polar bear behaviour.

Ah, who's this?
Yeah.

Polar bear skeleton.

'Back at Canada's Museum of Nature,

'I meet PBI scientist Alysa McCall

'to look at some of the charity's
latest camera footage.'

So, it's a way
to monitor these moms and cubs

without disturbing them at all.

We can get our teams
to sneak in on skis,

quietly set these cameras up
and get out of there.

And then, months later,
we can go retrieve those cameras

and watch the very first moments
of a polar bear's life

as it kind of sees
what's outside the den.

Is that what you got here?
I do.

Can I see?
Yes, yes.

Very few people
have seen this so far.

So, this is just from
our last field season,

that just occurred
a month or two ago,

and we just retrieved this footage.

So, you can kind of see
some footprints there.

And then we can see...

kind of who shows up.

ALYSA LAUGHS
That looks... Is she...

Is she clearing away the snow
with those giant paws?

I believe so, yeah.

Making a nice little exit path
for her family.

There's a little tiny head!

ALYSA LAUGHS

Are these their first steps
out in the real world?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, we know every family
does things a little differently.

Some really like to hang out
at the den site for a few days,

and some just go to the ice.

But, yeah, this mom has decided

"This is the day
we're gonna use your legs."

So, here they go.

And so this is probably
the first hill

these cubs have ever climbed.

Polar bear mums
spend the entire winter in dens,

giving birth around
December or January,

before emerging with their cubs
at the start of spring.

During this period
that she's in the maternity den,

what sort of percentage
of her body weight

is she going to lose?

That's a great question.

We know she loses
potentially hundreds of pounds

while she is just
relying on her own body fat,

resting in that den,
and then nursing her cubs.

So she can, you know,
easily lose a quarter or more

of her body mass
while she's in there.

It's extraordinary that she can

feed those youngsters
when she herself is...

is absolutely running on empty.

Oh, I can't imagine.

The nursing part is so important

when we're looking at modelling
and the future for moms and cubs.

PBI is building up
invaluable research footage

of the behaviour
of mums and their cubs.

In an environment
that is changing so quickly

with climate change,

is being a polar bear mum
harder these days?

Yes, I would say, absolutely,
being a polar bear mom is harder.

As the sea ice breaks up,

you don't have as much access
to your seal blubber.

That's kind of
their energy currency.

So it's harder to find.

And then, as the ice thins out
a little bit, it's moving more.

So now she's walking
on a treadmill, kind of.

So she's burning more energy

to consume the same or less
amount of energy.

And that's not even considering
more pollution,

more human disturbance
and more shipping,

and all these other things
that are going on.

I'm not gonna lie,
this is sounding pretty bleak.

The good news is that polar bears
are not yet endangered.

We still have
25,000 to 26,000 of them.

There's a lot of work being done
to monitor them,

and there's a lot of interest
in keeping them around.

And also, the best things
we can do for polar bears

are the best things
we can do for ourselves -

shifting to cleaner energy,

working on climate change,
producing fewer emissions.

So we do have a lot of hope.

This faith in our ability
to turn things around

is shared by
some leading conservationists.

We're losing between 12% and 13%
of sea ice per decade

across the Arctic,
so that's a huge loss.

And that's really challenging
for Arctic wildlife.

It's evolved over millennia

to live around the sea ice
and under the sea ice.

But I am optimistic.

I'm optimistic
because of the resilience

and the strength of Arctic people
to manage their own lands.

I'm also optimistic
because we know,

you know, the science tells us,

that when areas of the ocean
are protected

and are effectively set aside,

wildlife comes back,
and it regenerates.

'It's been an extraordinary journey
across the Arctic...'

Yes! We have one.

'..rediscovering
the young Prince Charles's

'extreme sense of adventure...'

That is just mind-blowing!

'..enjoying the warmth and spirit
of the peoples who live here...

LAUGHTER

'..and finding out
how much has changed 50 years on.

'And while there's certainly
major cause for concern,

'I've also found great determination

'to ensure this stunning land
and, ultimately, the planet itself,

'has a healthy future.'

We have to believe
that it is still possible

because you have to have hope.

But...

..to provide that hope,
you have to take the action.

I mean, what I can do
is behind the scenes.

But, I mean, it...

It can get very frustrating.

To say the least.

I think for a lot of people,
their hope will be the fact

that this is such a big thing to you

and that you continue to speak out
on these issues.

You know, there's a lot of people
in the conservation community

who would want to say a massive
thank you to you for all you do.

You're very kind.

You have to just go on trying,
I find,

because I mind, for what it's worth,
about the younger generations.

To me, it's not fair
to leave them something

in a far worse state than
I found it. You know what I mean?

The whole point, I've always felt,
is to improve it for people,

so they don't have
a ghastly legacy of horror

to have to deal with.

That's why
I've spent all these years,

because I don't want
to be accused by my grandchildren

of not doing anything about it.

That's the key.

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