Prince Charles desperately missing royal family: 'You really want to give people a hug'

The Prince of Wales has opened up about missing his loved ones during lockdown, saying: "You really want to give people a hug." Charles has been staying in touch with family members via video calls, but he said: "Well I haven't seen my father for a long time. He's going to be 99 next week, so yes, or my grandchildren or anything. I've been doing the Facetime, is all very well but…."

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WATCH: Prince Charles opens up about missing his family

The future king was asked about being unable to see relatives during an interview for the Sky News programme After The Pandemic: Our New World. He said: "Well it's terribly sad, let alone one's friends. But fortunately at least you can speak to them on telephones and occasionally do this sort of thing. But it isn't the same is it. You really want to give people a hug."

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And he said he hoped people would be reunited with relatives soon, adding: "Well I do hope so because don't worry I do totally understand so many people's frustrations, difficulties, grief and anguish and I mean I'm just trying to do my best to find and help and encourage ways to enable people to go on doing that, but in a way that doesn't wreck everything at the same time around us."

Prince Charles speaking to Rhiannon Mills during the Sky interview

The Prince also opened up about his own diagnosis with coronavirus, saying: "I was lucky in my case and got away with it quite lightly. But I've had it, and I can so understand what other people have gone through. I feel particularly for those who have lost their loved ones and have been unable to be with them at the time. That to me is the most ghastly thing."

He said the experience had made him "even more determined" to help prevent future pandemics by putting nature at the "centre of everything we do". "The more we erode the natural world, the more we destroy biodiversity, the more we expose ourselves to this kind of danger," he added.

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