Prince Harry was bullied in school because of something his father taught him to do
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, especially when it comes to Prince Charles ’ relationship with his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. In the upcoming documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70 , the Duke of Sussex shares a tender detail from his childhood: “I used to get taken the mickey out of at school for just picking up rubbish.” Clearly, the future king instilled some important values in his sons – like his love for environmental conservation and awareness.
Prince Charles posed for a photo with a very young Prince Harry and William. Photo: © Tim Graham/Getty Images
Though Harry’s classmates didn’t think picking up trash was very cool for his age, the 34-year-old has gone on to show just how deep his passion for the environment runs. Taking after his father and older brother, who both have various patronages involving environmental awareness, Harry has gone on to work with organizations in Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and Botswana to learn about environmental education programs and anti-poaching initiatives. We’re sure he’ll be paying the passion forward and taking Baby Sussex – who is due to join the Royal Family in spring 2019 – out to clean up trash as soon as he or she is old enough!
Prince Harry and William snapped a silly photo with a python while in Botswana in 2010. Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images
During the hour-long film, which commemorates Charles’ 70th birthday, the royal brothers open up about their parents’ influence on their lives. While he’s surely following in his father’s footsteps, many believe Prince Harry is also a lot like his late mom, Princess Diana, especially in the way he interacts with admirers and his passion for human rights issues. Speaking of his mom and dad, and sweetly referring to Diana as “mummy,” the future father said: “He’s done an amazing job. And without telling us what we should be doing or the direction we should go in, he’s just let us learn from the nature of the job, learning from him, learning form mummy.”
It wasn’t just Harry who has taken on his dad’s passion for the environment. William, a patron of various wildlife conservation initiatives, shared: “He took us litter-picking when we were younger, on holiday. We were in Norfolk on school holidays, and we went out litter-picking with him. And again, both of us thought, ‘Well this is perfectly normal, everyone must do it.’ We were there with our spikes, stabbing the rubbish into plastic bags.” Prince Charles, who is poised to one day take the throne, has done a wonderful job creating passionate public servants out of his boys – who will be passing this knowledge on to future generations of royals to come!
