Queen Elizabeth Shares Sweet Throwback Photo of Prince Charles in Honor of His 72nd Birthday
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Happy birthday, Prince Charles!
The Prince of Wales celebrated his 72nd birthday on Saturday, receiving a host of well wishes from his royal family members.
Queen Elizabeth shared a sweet black-and-white throwback snap from when Charles was a baby in honor of her son's birthday, writing, “Wishing The Prince of Wales a very happy birthday today!”
Charles also got a warm message from his son Prince William and daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, who shared a smiling photo of the royal on Instagram to mark the occasion. “Wishing a very Happy Birthday to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales! 🎂” the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge captioned the photo.
“Thank you for all the well wishes on The Prince of Wales’s 72nd Birthday! 🎉” Charles shared in response from the Clarence House account.
RELATED: How Queen Elizabeth Broke Royal Protocol with the Birth of Prince Charles 72 Years Ago
In honor of his birthday, Charles served as a guest editor for Country Life magazine for the third year in a row. In his article, he encouraged readers to recognize hope despite a difficult year.
"The country, and the world, have experienced changes we could never have foreseen," Prince Charles wrote. "Uncertainty has become a steady state; the previously unimaginable has become unexceptional; the extraordinary has become normal. At such a time, it is tempting, and understandable, to focus on the losses, the failures and the challenges. However, if the life of the land teaches anything, it is the need to look at the long term."
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Queen Elizabeth's eldest son and heir, who has been a strong advocate for conservation for decades, praised "the strength of our society: its resourcefulness, its compassion and its stoical determination" amid the coronavirus pandemic — and wants to apply the same traits to the fight against climate change.
"Like the threatened red squirrels collecting their hazelnuts or jays their seeds and acorns, we must be wise and far-sighted," he said, thinking of the next generations of his family. "We have a very short window of opportunity, which must not be squandered, in which to seize something good from this crisis and, as we rebuild, to put Nature, our planet and our children and grandchildren first."
