The King has issued one of his most striking interventions on technology to date, using the tenth anniversary of the National Cyber Security Centre to warn that the threats facing Britain in the digital age are mutating at speed.
In a letter to the agency published this morning, His Majesty praised the NCSC for defending the country against cyber attacks, safeguarding democratic institutions and protecting "the critical infrastructure upon which daily life depends". But he cautioned that "malicious actors" continue to "evolve their tactics by using automated technologies", and said strong cyber security was fundamental to making the online environment safer and more resilient.
The King acknowledged that much of the centre's work cannot be recognised in public, writing of his "profound gratitude" to staff whose successes must remain secret.
The King's Technology Week
- The King marked the NCSC's tenth anniversary with a letter warning of evolving, automated threats.
- He praised the agency for protecting democratic institutions and critical infrastructure since 2016.
- Last month he hosted AI executives at Dumfries House in Ayrshire to discuss the technology's risks.
- He told them AI could develop "darker capacities, perhaps even to take life" if mishandled.
- Earlier this week he launched Apple x King's Trust Creative Labs at Battersea Power Station with Tim Cook.
- The King's Trust, founded by the King in 1976, marks its fiftieth anniversary this year.
Darker capacities
The letter follows a remarkable address to artificial intelligence executives gathered at Dumfries House last month, at which the King relayed the industry's own warnings about the rapidly advancing capabilities of frontier AI models. Those who created these technologies, he said, were now warning that AI risked developing "darker capacities, perhaps even to take life".
He spoke of an "urgency" in "adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands, and being used in potentially catastrophic ways". The task, he told the executives, was not merely to advance technology but to ensure it remains in the service of "humanity, community and the natural world".
From warnings to workshops
If the week's message has been caution, its mood has not been pessimism. On Tuesday the King joined Apple's chief executive Tim Cook at Battersea Power Station to launch Apple x King's Trust Creative Labs, a programme of immersive workshops giving young people the technology, resources and industry skills to move into work.
The first cohort took part in a music creation session before a sound check at the new Apple Music Hall, where Sir Elton John, a longstanding supporter of the Trust, joined the King for a performance by the rising singer Skye Newman. The initiative launches in the Trust's fiftieth anniversary year: founded by the King as Prince of Wales in 1976, it has helped more than 1.3 million young people into work, education or training, three in four of those supported over the last five years.
Later this month the King and Queen travel to the Caribbean, visiting Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, with the King also travelling to the Bahamas and Guyana. The cyber warning, palace aides indicate, will travel with him: the defence of the realm, in 2026, is waged as much in server rooms as anywhere else.