Prince Charles Talks About Struggle To Make Friends, Raising Sons William, Harry

Prince Charles previously opened up about his struggles with making friends during an interview with Mary Riddell in 2001.

He revealed that growing up, he suffered from bullying due to his position in the monarchy.

“It doesn’t matter how much money or possessions you have. People can still be lonely or unhappy. You’re not immured in some wonderful shell. Obviously, when I was at school, I was lonely. I suppose it was an oddity, and that made it more difficult. People were hesitant about making friends because they thought they’d be accused of sucking up. But I like to think I had a fertile imagination about other people’s problems,” he said (via Daily Mail).

“I spent some time in the Royal Navy and had to look after sailors from all walks of life. I had to deal with their problems, look after them when they were drunk, and I wanted to carry on looking after people. I happened to mind about this country,” he added.

In the same interview, Prince Charles also talked about his sons and dished on what his approach was like in raising them.

“You can attempt to impose rules and regulations, but those don’t always work. I try to pull their legs before they pull mine off by the roots, I’m a great believer in teasing. But there’s also a position you try to hold. You have to be very careful, I don’t think you want to be best friends with your children. It’s more about striking a subtle balance,” he said.

When Riddell asked Prince Charles if Prince William and Prince Harry loop him in with the latest trends in music and clothes, the future king said no.

“All they say is, ‘You won’t like this.’ Occasionally, they’ll say, ‘You’ll like this’ if they’ve found something that will make me laugh or some music they know I’ll be fond of, but mostly there’s this duh-duh-duh beat of their music in the background. I don’t complain. I get complained about by them, instead, over what’s on my book table or the music I listen to,” he said.​