10 Life Lessons from a King's Vision on Finding Harmony and How to Apply Them
- 18 hours ago
- 10 min read
Written by Gabriel Azuola, Head of the House of Azuola
Legal strategist, founder of Cola Blanca Consulting, and Head of the House of Azuola, advising global FinTech and public institutions on regulation, governance, and strategic growth. Dedicated to ethical leadership, institutional development, and responsible innovation.
I have just finished watching the new Amazon Prime documentary Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision. These are ten lessons from His Majesty’s work, lessons that we can apply to our own lives, regardless of who we are or where we come from.
Over the past decade, a significant part of my professional career has been devoted, among other areas, to the field of sustainable development. While working as the Executive Director of the Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development, Entebbe, I had the opportunity to participate in COP16 in Cali, Colombia, in 2024, a landmark summit for global biodiversity and the protection of natural ecosystems.
Protecting the environment and the oceans has certainly become a passion for me, and something I intend to continue pursuing in the years ahead. That being said, I watched Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision three times, back-to-back, because I sensed something in it that deserved more than a headline. Some works are not meant to be consumed once, they are meant to be listened to until their deeper argument becomes audible.
Furthermore, anyone who has worked or volunteered in these fields can recognise the pioneering and extraordinary work His Majesty The King has carried out for decades in defence of the environment, and, by extension, of our shared home, the planet itself. Nevertheless, I must admit that until this documentary, I had never fully understood the deeper pursuit that has guided His Majesty for so long, what he calls “Harmony.”
In this documentary, His Majesty not only gives us a truly magisterial lesson on his vision, but also offers the public a rare opportunity to enter his mind, and, to a certain extent, his personal struggles, his experience of criticism and ridicule, and his resilience in continuing to pursue a long-term vision for the protection of our planet and the search for Harmony.
As presented in the documentary, Harmony is not a vague ideal, nor a sentimental slogan. It is the recognition that nature has the power to both teach and heal, that the world is shaped by an underlying order, a kind of natural mathematics, and that everything is connected, nothing truly separated. It is the understanding that we are not apart from nature, but part of it. Harmony, in The King’s vision, is also about bringing together different elements, different backgrounds, disciplines, traditions, and systems, so that they function as one. It is about drawing from the best of the past to create something new, resilient, and sustainable. And perhaps most importantly, it is a reminder, that we all share, and that remembering what we share heals, preserves, and saves. In that sense, Harmony is not something reserved for kings, scientists, or architects. It is something any of us can find, a way of bringing things back together again, and of returning nature to every aspect of our lives.
Yet beyond the definition itself, what stayed with me most after watching this documentary was something even more practical, the lessons. Because Finding Harmony is not only a statement of vision, it is also, quietly, a masterclass in leadership, perseverance, and the discipline of living according to one’s principles. For that reason, I would like to focus on ten lessons I personally took from His Majesty’s work in this documentary, and ten lessons I believe all of us can apply, regardless of our background, profession, or place in the world.
Lesson 1: The passions we carry as children can shape our greatest accomplishments later in life
In His Majesty’s own words, he began worrying from a young age about the effects of modern life on the natural world. He was deeply concerned about the impact that new technologies and growing patterns of consumption were having on ecosystems and on life itself.
From this, I take a lesson that feels both simple and demanding, we can almost always find a way to pursue the dreams that matter to us, and to fight the battles we consciously choose to fight, even when life becomes complex. That is what it means to remain truthful to oneself. And it is precisely why it is worth looking back to our teenage dreams, not with nostalgia, but with honesty, and asking what once gave us passion, and what part of it we may still be called to fulfil.
Lesson 2: Lead by example, your home should reflect your ideas
Since His Majesty, then The Prince of Wales, moved to Highgrove in the 1980s, he turned his home into a living test bed for his ideas about Harmony. Highgrove was not merely a residence, it became a place where principles could be tested, refined, and made visible.
Robert Greene’s Law 9, from The 48 Laws of Power, advises us to win through actions, never through argument. It seems to me that the young Prince of Wales understood this instinctively. He knew that the only way to validate a long-term vision was not by relying on his future title or public platform, but by building credibility through what he could demonstrate with his own hands, on his own land.
He took what was once an empty landscape and began, patiently, to restore it. He rescued threatened heritage varieties of flora and proved their value through practice, not theory. Through trial and error, he brought nature back into farming and gardening at a time when much of the modern world was moving in the opposite direction, towards chemicals, pesticides, industrial fertilisers derived from fossil fuels, and the wider logic of “quick efficiency” at any cost.
He was ridiculed. He was labelled extreme. He was dismissed by headlines. Yet he did not argue. He continued. And over time, the results spoke for themselves. His organic initiative, Duchy Originals, became a national brand, and according to the documentary, has generated over £50 million for charitable causes.
The lesson for me is clear, sometimes the most meaningful work must begin quietly, within the discipline of our own homes. We build, we improve, we persist, we ignore the noise, and eventually, we let the outcome become the argument.
Lesson 3: Put your ideas in the service of others
After his success at Highgrove, His Majesty chose to pursue a larger and far more complex ambition, to test whether Harmony could benefit not only a piece of land, but an entire community.
In the 2000s, he acquired Dumfries House in Scotland, an estate surrounded by an area deeply affected by industrial decline. His intention was not merely to restore a beautiful place, but to heal what was broken around it. The goal was to regenerate land, create sustainable opportunity, and prove that renewal is possible through a different relationship with nature, work, and community.
What stands out is that Dumfries House was not saved as a museum object, something preserved only to be admired from a distance. It was saved as a living project, a place meant to bring balance, vitality, and dignity back to local life. In the documentary, one senses that His Majesty is driven by a simple but rare instinct, not to leave things broken if they can be repaired.
The lesson is clear, passions become truly meaningful when they move beyond personal fulfilment and find a way to serve others, when what we love doing becomes, in some form, a contribution.
Lesson 4: Don’t wait for opportunities, build them
One of the most striking moments in the documentary comes when the work at Dumfries House begins and a very practical problem appears, the necessary workforce simply did not exist. They could not find stonemasons or carpenters, so they started training them. They needed people with hospitality skills, and the staff they required was not available, so they created the courses and taught them.
This is leadership in its most concrete form, not complaining about the absence of resources, but building what is missing so that the vision can become real.
The lesson applies far beyond estates and restoration projects. Life does not always hand us the tools, platforms, or specialists required to fulfil our ambitions. Sometimes we must create the opportunity ourselves. And if, in the process, we can lift others, giving them not only work, but direction and dignity, then the value of what we build becomes far greater than the original goal.
Lesson 5: Find Harmony with God
Midway through the documentary, we see His Majesty walk quietly into his garden and take a moment of gratitude, praising God for the gift of having lived long enough to witness the fruits of his own harvest.
He then shows a small sanctuary he built within the garden, bearing a simple inscription: “Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord.” It is a short scene, almost easy to overlook, yet it may be one of the most revealing moments in the entire film.
Because it makes something clear: Harmony, as His Majesty understands it, is not only about landscapes, architecture, farming, or sustainability. It is also about the inner world. It is about restoring a right relationship between ourselves and the Creator, a humility that recognises that we are not the authors of life, but its stewards.
In an age obsessed with control, that may be the deepest form of Harmony of all.
Lesson 6: If you don’t like something, challenge it
Inspired by his education in architecture, His Majesty began to challenge the way Britain was building its cities. He questioned not only the aesthetics of modern development, but the deeper philosophy behind it, the idea that efficiency alone is enough, even when it produces places that feel soulless, fragmented, and disconnected from human scale.
The documentary reminded me of something I have written about before, when something is not right, when it goes against truth, dignity, or Harmony, one should not remain silent. There is a responsibility to say what needs to be said, even when doing so is unpopular. Because that, in the end, is what it means to speak the truth, for a deeper reflection on this principle, see my
Brainz Magazine article “What Our Words Reveal About Us”
Yet what makes this lesson even more powerful is that His Majesty did not stop at criticism. When arguments were not enough, he returned to the principle of leading by example. He proved his point through action by helping bring to life Poundbury, in Dorchester, a real town built to demonstrate that a different model of development is possible.
Lesson 7: Everything we build in this era must be in harmony with nature
One of the documentary’s most consistent messages is that Harmony is not an optional aesthetic, it is a requirement for survival. Whether we speak of homes, cities, farms, or entire economies, the era of building against nature is coming to an end.
His Majesty’s vision insists on a simple truth that modern life often forgets, nature is not a background to human progress. It is the foundation that makes progress possible. When we design systems that ignore natural limits, we do not become more advanced, we become more fragile.
The lesson is therefore both practical and moral, everything we build in this century must either work with nature, or it will eventually collapse under the weight of its own imbalance.
Lesson 8: Don’t limit your vision to one place, think globally
What the documentary makes clear is that His Majesty never treated Harmony as a purely British idea, or as a project confined to the United Kingdom, or even to the Commonwealth. Instead, he sought to carry its principles across borders, cultures, and regions, speaking to a wider human responsibility.
Because some visions are not meant to remain local. When an idea is truly rooted in nature, it becomes universal by definition. Soil, water, beauty, balance, community, and sustainability are not “national” concern, they are human ones.
The lesson is therefore simple, begin where you are, but do not build as though your responsibility ends at the edge of your country. The world is now too connected, and the stakes too high, for small visions.
Lesson 6: Build from the goodness that was already there
One of the most consistent principles in His Majesty’s vision is that true progress does not begin by erasing what came before. It begins by recognising what was already good, what was already true, and building from it with intelligence and care.
This is not nostalgia. It is discernment. It is the ability to look at the past, at craftsmanship, tradition, heritage, and natural wisdom, and extract what still has value, then apply it to modern challenges such as sustainability, housing, and regeneration.
Whether you are a banker, a journalist, a politician, an architect, or a doctor, the principle remains the same, look back, not to retreat, but to recover. The past is not perfect, but it often leaves behind foundations of meaning, beauty, and order that we would be foolish to discard.
Harmony, in this sense, is not about going backwards. It is about moving forward without losing what made us human in the first place.
Lesson 10: Make a difference
At one point in the documentary, Amelia Fawcett remarks that His Majesty has spent his entire life using his position, his convening ability, and his platform to make a difference. It is a simple statement, yet it captures something essential about what leadership should mean.
Because the point of influence is not visibility. The point of influence is responsibility. And the purpose of responsibility is to leave things better than we found them.
This is the final lesson I took from Finding Harmony, we should always aim to make a difference, however small, and to improve what is within our reach. We can begin immediately by applying the lessons above, starting in our own homes, expanding to our communities, ignoring the critics, and letting our actions become our proof.
We do not need to begin with a platform. But we do need to begin with courage. We can educate ourselves, train ourselves, refine our skills, and dare to build something that serves others. In the end, Harmony is not only a vision to admire. It is a responsibility to live.
Read more from Gabriel Azuola
Gabriel Azuola, Head of the House of Azuola
Gabriel Azuola is a legal strategist and founder of Cola Blanca Consulting, advising FinTech firms, investors, and public institutions across global markets. He has guided cross-border regulatory strategy and high-value capital mobilization, contributing to ventures surpassing $150 million. Azuola also serves as Head of the House of Azuola, a historic Latin American lineage dedicated to civic duty and ethical leadership. His work focuses on responsible innovation, institutional development, and principled governance.
