Prince Charles is looking forward to becoming a grandfather of four following the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first child together, but he also has his concerns for his future grandchild.
During his recent royal visit to Ghana, the 69-year-old member of the British Royal Family and the second in line to the throne, opened up about his concern regarding the effects that environmental issues, like plastic pollution, will have on future generations, including his soon-to-be-born fourth grandchild.
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“I am about to have another grandchild actually. I suspect quite a few of you may too have grandchildren or will do soon,” Prince Charles said, according to Radar Online. “It does seem to me insanity if we are going to bequeath this completely polluted, damaged and destroyed world to them. All grandchildren deserve a better future.”
During the meeting, Charles also discussed plastic pollution and the importance of recycling.
“It is becoming evident that not following such an approach has disastrous consequences, as is witnessed by the fact that 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, that soon there will be one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in the sea, and that the dead zones in the ocean, now numbering over 400, are continuing to grow,” he said.
“As many of you know so well, the eight million tons of plastic that enter the sea every year – through our own doing I might add – is now almost ubiquitous,” he continued. “As the Prime Minister said, if all the plastic that we have produced since the 1950s that has ended up in the ocean is still with us in one form or another, so that wherever you swim there are particles of plastic near you and we are very close to reaching the point when whatever wild-caught fish you eat will contain plastic. Plastic is indeed now on the menu!”
The Duke of Cornwall has been a longtime supporter of environmental issues, with Prince William and Prince Harry revealing in the recent documentary Prince, Son And Heir: Charles At 70 that they went “litter-picking with him” while on holiday in Norfolk. Earlier this year, Charles urged environmentalists and business leaders at The British Academy in London to “do your utmost to work together in the coming year to make real, substantial progress.”
The Duke, who is set to celebrate his 70th birthday on Nov. 14, toasted several times to the new royal on the way after learning of Markle’s pregnancy.
