The Prince is known to be passionate about the environment and nature, and in recent days has spoken out for Climate Week 2020. He also has a soft spot for animals, and has been anonymously described in the past as an “all-time chicken lover”.
However, a particular favourite of the Prince’s appears to be red squirrels.
His son Prince William once revealed the details of Prince Charles’ infatuation with the rarely-spotted rodents.
The Duke of Cambridge told Country Life: “He is completely infatuated by the red squirrels that live around the estate in Scotland—to the extent that he’s given them names and is allowing them into the house.”
The Wildlife Trusts adds there are around 140,000 red squirrels to the 2.5 million grey squirrels present in Britain.
It also warns they could become extinct in England in just ten years unless preservation efforts are stepped up.
Earlier this year, Prince Charles attempted to set up a red squirrel sanctuary in his garden at Balmoral which he hoped could become a visitor attraction.
However, the plan failed to get approval by Scottish National Heritage due to issues regarding preventing grey squirrels from entering the sanctuary.
Speaking out about the climate last month, Prince Charles warned people to “come together as a world” on the issue.
The Prince also launched RETV – a video platform specifically for films about a sustainable future.
In one clip, he said: “We’ve forgotten sometimes, I think, that we are part of nature.
“So what we do to the world around us we are doing totally to ourselves.”
“There is life after apparent death from the current conventional approach. We’ve got to come together as world on this.
“And we’ve got to remember that the natural world is what sustains us.”
In 2012, Prince Charles and wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, adopted two Jack Russell dogs – Bluebell and Beth – from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
