Prince Charles has been very active in taking care of the environment for a long time. He was able to pass this virtue his children, Prince William and Prince Harry, in a very simple, yet impactful way.
The royal brothers shared a life lesson that their father taught them when they were young and they are still doing today. In an interview with BBC in late 2018 for the Prince Charles' 70th birthday celebration, William and Harry revealed how the Prince of Wales "programed" them into picking up trash.
The two recalled that their father tricked them and it started when Charles took them to pick up garbage while on school break in Norfolk. William and Harry said their father normalized the practice of picking up litter and, later on, it became a father-and-sons tradition for them to pick up litter off the streets.
"We were there with our spikes, stabbing the rubbish into black plastic bags. We both just thought: 'Oh well this is perfectly normal, everyone must do it,'" William said.
Eventually, it became a habit for the young royals as that they can't help it but pick up litter wherever they see it. The Duke of Sussex recalled that he was teased by his classmates every time he picks up trash but he doesn't mind it all.
William and Harry lauded their father for introducing the environment-friendly virtue in them at a young age. Meghan Markle's husband said he was impressed with how Prince Charles was able to teach them a lesson without telling them what they should do. The Duke of Cambridge added that their father lives the way he advocates.
In the BBC documentary, titled Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, the brothers also watched a screening of a speech that the Prince of Wales gave in 1970. In his speech, the heir to the English throne warned the dangers of plastic waste. Charles has been promoting environmental initiatives and has also developed a model village for organic farming.
It seems like William and Harry still have the same habit up to this day and it goes beyond the United Kingdom. It can be recalled that, when Prince William visited Kuwait last year, he waged a war against single-use plastic bottles.
He joined a team of litter pickers in cleaning up the shore of Persian Gulf mudflats. The collected plastic bottles, discarded packaging, and carrier bags that were washed up by the sea.
While picking up trash, William told the other pickers that he and his family are doing recycling as much as possible and he called plastic bottles as "enemy." He said they use metal bottles instead of plastic bottles when they travel.