Prince Charles: Becoming a grandfather makes me feel old

It's been three months since Prince William and Duchess Kate announced that they would welcome a baby this July, but William's father, Prince Charles, is still trying to wrap his mind around the idea. Speaking about the arrival of his first grandchild during an interview for a special edition of BBC 1's Countryfile to commemorate the program's 25th anniversary, the Prince, 64, was asked whether the notion of becoming a grandfather for the first time makes him feel old.

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"Of course it does," he replied, "because you can't believe, to a certain extent, that it's going to happen in your life." Which is not to say he isn't happy about the news. He's thrilled, in fact. "It's a lovely thought, and I look forward enormously to that relationship with a grandchild," he added.

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The Prince, a longtime environmentalist, also spoke about looking forward to a cleaner, greener environment for his offspring's offspring and other future generations. "We need to think about what kind of world we're handing on to our successors, particularly our grandchildren," he said from his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.

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"It should make us reflect a bit how we do things so that we don't ruin it for them," he added. "That's why it's so important to work in harmony with nature rather than somehow thinking we can ignore or dominate or separate ourselves from nature."

This will be the first grandchild for the future king, who also has a younger son, Prince Harry, 28, with the late Princess Diana. (Charles has been married to Camilla Parker Bowles since 2005.)

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