He's known as a faithful advocate for the environment -- and now it seems that Prince Charles is all set to become the future "sun king".
Yes, the heir apparent to Britain, who has gone to the extent of auditing his own carbon footprint in public, is placing solar panels on the rooftops of his Clarence House to generate his own electricity for heating and lighting.
In fact, Charles has already called in experts to see how the photovoltaic panels could be fitted onto the existing tiles on the 180-year-old Royal mansion without spoiling its historic look, The Sunday Times reported.
A spokesman for Charles said: "We are actively considering installing solar panels at Clarence House, but there are technical and planning issues to consider first."
The project of installing solar panels, costing between 10,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds, could yield an eight per cent annual return on investment in terms of free energy, the newspaper said.
The Prince has been keen to prove himself the greenest royal. Two years back, he announced his household had become carbon-neutral with initiatives such as carbon offsetting and energy-efficient boilers.
He has even converted his Jaguar and Land Rover to run on biodiesel derived from used cooking oil and his Aston Martin to run on a bio-ethanol fuel from surplus British wine.
{{/usCountry}}He has even converted his Jaguar and Land Rover to run on biodiesel derived from used cooking oil and his Aston Martin to run on a bio-ethanol fuel from surplus British wine.
{{/usCountry}}Jerry Stokes, the British president of SunTech Europe, who has visited Clarence House to discuss the project with the Prince, said: "Charles is very excited about this technology. (But) the key thing is not to rush going super-green and be disrespectful of the visual impact."