05 November 2023 , 13:56
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The royal family has a long history of animal-lovers, from the late Queen Elizabeth II and her famous corgis to King Charles' red squirrel advocacy.
And it seems the Prince and Princess of Wales' kids will follow in their footsteps, as shown in an encounter George, Charlotte and Louis had with legendary nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. The young royals quizzed the national treasure on his favourite animal in a video from Kensington Palace in 2020 - and Charlotte revealed her liking for a creature many fear.
The then five-year-old princess told Sir David that she liked spiders and he replied that he was a fan too. "I love spiders, I'm so glad you like them", he said.
"I think they're wonderful things. Why is it that people are so frightened of them? I think it's because they've actually got eight legs, which are much more than us, and if you've got eight legs you can move in any direction, so you can never be quite sure which way that spider's going to go.
"He could go this way or that way … so people don't like them, and they don't like their hairy legs either. But spiders are so clever. Have you ever watched one trying to build its web? That is extraordinary. How does it make a circular web like that attached to trees at either side or bits of vegetation? How do they do it? Try and watch and see how they do it, it's marvellous."
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Prince Louis, then just two years old, asked Sir David what his favourite animal was, to which the broadcaster replied: "I think I like monkeys best, because they're such fun. They can jump all over the place, and they don't bite, at least… some do, but if you're a bit careful they don't bite. And they're so funny, and I like them a lot. Mind you, you can't have monkeys sitting around the home because that's not where they live, they live out in the forest."
Sir David Attenborough discussed animals with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (Kensington Palace)Attenborough also weighed in on the endless dog or cat debate, revealing that he would choose a puppy over a kitten if he were to pick one to have as a pet. He gifted Prince George the tooth of a giant shark and the then seven-year-old asked him which species he thought would go extinct next. Sir David said in response: "Well, let's hope there won't be any, because there are a lot of things we can do when animals are in danger of extinction. We can protect them.
"About 40 years ago, I was with some mountain gorillas in the centre of Africa. Mountain gorillas were then very, very rare, there were only 250 of them left, and we showed pictures of them on television, and people thought how terrible it would be if these became extinct. So they subscribed lots of money and lots of people came to help, and now there are over a thousand of them. So you can save an animal if you want to and put your mind to it, people around the world are doing that, because animals are so precious – so let's hope there won't be any more that will go extinct."