Charles' touching tribute to Harry
Prince Harry turns radio jock to quiz VIPs
Prince Charles yesterday called Prince Harry his “darling boy” after his son told him he “picks his brains more now than ever” during a radio interview.
The 33-year-old was guest editing Radio 4’s Today programme and affectionately called his father “Pa” and thanked him for “allowing” him to interview him for the show, the Daily Mail reported.
And during the four-minute chat, the Prince of Wales said it was amazing Harry had been listening to him regarding climate change.
The pair started talking about the planet and the 69-year-old joked that people were finally waking up to his “dotty” opinions about the environment.
When asked by his son to
Well, darling boy, it makes me very proud to think that you understand. Prince Charles
pick one issue to focus on, Charles said over the years he had tried to focus on many things he thought needed attention.
He said: “Not everyone else did, but maybe now some years later they are beginning to realise that what I was trying to say may not have been as dotty as they thought.
“The issue, really, which has to go on being focused on big time, I think, is this one around the whole issue of climate change.
“Which is now, whether we like it or not, is the biggest threat multiplier we face because what is happening now is what I was dreading.
“Which is we are having to deal all the time with the symptoms that are springing up all round the world, and they are diverting us off down all these different channels to try and deal with ghastly conflicts and humanitarian and natural disasters, and goodness knows what else.
“But at the root of it all, much of it, is climate change which is causing untold horrors in different parts of the world.”
Later, Harry asked: “But do you feel optimistic about the future, for the world that William, myself, your grandchildren and everyone else out there is going to inherit.”
His father replied: “Well, my dear boy, if I must say so, the fact you’re saying this gives me enormous optimism. I haven’t obviously put you off when banging on all these years.
“Because if you think that, that is really encouraging. What I’ve tried to do all these years is to make sure that I can ensure that you and that your children, my grandchildren, also everyone else’s grandchildren, have a world fit to live in.”
Harry told him: “I totally see it and I totally understand it because of all these years of conversations that we’ve been having and I do end up picking your brains more now than I ever have done.”
His father added: “Well, darling boy, it makes me very proud to think that you understand.”
Harry then joked: “And that I’m listening?”
“Well that’s even more amazing,” his father said.
When Barack met Harry
Former US President Barack Obama warned against using social media in a divisive way during his interview with Prince Harry.
Obama, 56, did not mention his successor by name, but many will see the comments as a thinly veiled rebuke aimed at Donald Trump.
During the interview, Obama said there was a danger of people becoming stuck in their biases due to social media use.
The former President said: “The question, I think, really has to do with, how do we harness this technology in a way that allows a multiplicity of voices, allows a diversity of views, but doesn’t lead to a Balkanisation of our society, but rather continues to promote ways of finding common ground?
“And, I’m not sure government can legislate that, but what I do believe is that all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet. One of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely different realities. They can be just cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases.”
President Trump has drawn widespread criticism for the way he uses Twitter to attack opponents, and condemn what he brands “fake news”.
During the same interview, Obama said he preferred Prince William over his brother while he was getting grilled.
At the end of the 40-minute chat, the fifth in line to the throne fired questions and asked who he preferred, “William or Harry”.
He joked: “William, right now.”
Harry also asked him which popular US television show he preferred out of legal drama Suits, the programme in which his fiancee Meghan Markle made her name, or The Good Wife.
And to Harry’s delight, the answer was: “Suits, obviously”.
Harry replied: “Great, great, great answer.”
During the “lightning round” of questions, the former President declined to say whether he wore boxers or briefs.
But he was willing to say he preferred Aretha Franklin to Tina Turner — “Aretha is the best,” he said of the Queen of Soul — and favoured retired basketball star Michael Jordan over current star LeBron James.
At the end of the show, Harry would not say whether Obama would be invited to his May wedding, saying the guest list hadn’t been drawn up yet.