For Prince Harry taking care of the planet has become an "obsession", a habit he picked up from King Charles. In a documentary from the BBC, Prince Harry spoke about an environmentally-conscious habit which left his wife Meghan Markle baffled. In ‘Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70’ released in 2018, the Duke of Sussex opened about how King Charles is obsessed with turning the lights off and has passed on this habit to both Prince William and Prince Harry.
Speaking in the documentary, Prince Harry said, “He's a stickler for turning lights off and that's now something that I'm obsessed with as well. Which is insane because actually, my wife goes 'Well, why turn the lights off? You know it's dark'.”
“I go 'we only need one light, we don't need like six', and all of a sudden, it becomes a habit and those small habit changes he's making, every single person can do. And I think that's one of the key lessons certainly that I felt that he taught us," he added.
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At the time, Prince William agreed with his brother saying, “I know I've got serious OCD on light switches now which is terrible."
Prince Harry also said that he picked up another habit from his father which led to him being teased at school. “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 black plastic bags,” he said, adding, he "used to get taken the mickey out of at school for just picking up rubbish. I didn't go out consciously looking for it. When you go for walks anywhere, if you see something, it stands out, you pick it up… It's like I've literally done this because I'm programmed to do it, because my father did it. And actually, we should all be doing it.”
{{/usCountry}}Prince Harry also said that he picked up another habit from his father which led to him being teased at school. “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 black plastic bags,” he said, adding, he "used to get taken the mickey out of at school for just picking up rubbish. I didn't go out consciously looking for it. When you go for walks anywhere, if you see something, it stands out, you pick it up… It's like I've literally done this because I'm programmed to do it, because my father did it. And actually, we should all be doing it.”
{{/usCountry}}King Charles had said last year, "As a father, I am proud that my sons have recognised this threat. Most recently, my elder son, William, launched the prestigious Earthshot Prize to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years by identifying and investing in the technologies that can make a difference.”
King Charles continued, “My younger son, Harry, has passionately highlighted the impact of climate change, especially in relation to Africa, and committed his charity to being net zero.”