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The Queen helped cultivate Prince Charles’ love towards saving the earth, by giving him a plot of land at Buckingham Palace as young boy to grow his very own vegetables.
Prince Charles said he and his sister, Princess Anne were each given a small section of the garden at the palace where they grew up, allowing them to grow their own produce and practise their gardening skills.
Speaking to BBC Gardeners’ World, he said had been “absolutely riveted” by his grandmother, The Queen Mother’s garden at Royal Lodge in Windsor, adding his upbringing kickstarted his drive to combat the “multiple threats” the British countryside now faces.
Charles also expressed his concerns over pests and diseases taking over Britain’s “magical” flora and fauna and his “biggest fear is that we end up with a wasteland”.
In the episode broadcast last night, Prince Charles was interviewed at Highgrove by presenter Adam Frost.
When asked about his love for gardening, he said: “I suspect it was probably partly to do with my grandmothers wonderful garden at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, where I spent a lot of my childhood.
“I remember being absolutely riveted as a child wandering about looking at all the plants.
“It was a wonderful woodland garden with masses of azaleas and rhododendrons.
“The smell and everything had a profound effect on me.”
He added: “The biggest fear is we end up with a wasteland here.
“Having seen more and more of these pests, particularly from the Far East, coming here.
“There’s all these caterpillars and strange things, all with extraordinary names, one thing after another.
“People love the ancient oaks in his country. There are magical remnant of some of these forests.
“We are a nation of gardeners as well. But somehow people don’t quite realise yet.”
Last year Prince Charles wrote of his personal battles to save the trees. He said: “I have always been mortified by the loss of mature elm trees from almost every part of the countryside I knew and loved as a child, so I had high hopes for an American variety that appeared to be resistant to the disease.
“I planted an avenue of them at Highgrove and then watched, miserably, as many of them succumbed just like the native variety.”
Lamenting the devastation caused by Dutch Elm Disease, he added: “The wider problem is that a great many more pests and diseases are now seriously threatening the health of all our native trees, yet public awareness of this situation seems to be frighteningly low.”
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