“When he’s there, he’s brilliant.”
Prince William and Prince Harry want their father, Prince Charles, to focus on his work-life balance a little more. In the new BBC One documentary, Prince, Son & Heir: Charles at 70, in honor of the Prince of Wales' upcoming 70th birthday, the brothers open up about their father and their hopes for him.
Charles’ eldest son, William, expresses his desire to have his father spend more time with his three children, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, 6 months.
"I would like him to have more time with the children,” William says of his father. "Having more time with him at home would be lovely, and being able to, you know, play around with the grandchildren. When he’s there, he’s brilliant, but we need him there as much as possible.”
Charles’ wife, Camilla, agrees that she thinks the heir to the throne is fantastic with children, mentioning her own four grandchildren from her previous marriage.
“He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices and I think children really appreciate that,” Camilla says of Charles. “He will get down on his knees and crawl about with them for hours, you know, making funny noises and laughing, and my grandchildren adore him, absolutely adore him.”
Charles’ youngest son, Harry, who is expecting his first child with wife Meghan Markle next spring, also hopes his dad will start focusing more on family.
"He does need to slow down. This is a man who has dinner ridiculously late at night, and then goes to his desk later that night and will fall asleep on his notes to the point where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face,” he says. "The man never stops. When we were kids, there were bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him. We could barely even get to his desk to say goodnight to him."
Both boys express that their father has inspired a passion for conservation in them, with Harry opening up about his obsession with turning off lights in the house.
“My wife certainly goes, ‘Well, why turn the lights off? It’s dark,’” Harry quips. “I go, ‘We only need one light, we don’t need, like, six,’ and all of a sudden, it becomes a habit.”
The full documentary, Prince, Son & Heir: Charles at 70 will air on BBC One on Thursday evening.
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