Prince Charles on trees and children

Jan 11, 2006, 11:37 GMT

Britain's Prince Charles claims growing trees is the same as raising children.

The prince, who was visiting Upton - an environmentally-friendly village, made the unlikely comparison when he met mum-of-five Debbie Harding.

Debbie quizzed Charles on how she could improve her bare garden, to which the prince replied: "I certainly am greenfingered.

"The trouble is, if you plant things yourself then they die it is terribly depressing, because they become like your children - especially trees."

Upton, near Northampton, is part of a new plan to build 211,000 new homes to ease the housing crisis in London and the South East. The village is similar to Poundbury village, which was established by Charles near Dorchester.

Meanwhile, the eccentric prince - already famed for talking to his plants - recently confessed he sings to seals.

Charles described how he, the late Queen Mother and his sister Princess Anne would sing to the animals from the clifftops at the Castle of Mey in Caithness.

The castle was his grandmother's home for many years and the prince recalled how he first sang to the seals there as a child.

Charles, who still spends a week there each summer, said: "For years we used to come in Britannia up the west coast.

"When we were small my sister, grandmother and I would stand on the cliff and we'd sing to the seals.

"It was absolutely riveting."

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International