Prince Charles celebrated his 70th birthday this week. To celebrate, the BBC did a documentary called Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, which was full of interviews from people around Charles, and Charles himself. William, Harry and Camilla all spoke on camera, and we already discussed one part, where Harry talked about asking Charles to walk Meghan down the aisle. Just FYI: there are lots of interesting quotes and I’ll probably get a few more stories out of this documentary. Anyway, this story is probably the most I’ve ever related to Charles, Harry and William. Apparently, Charles is that guy who goes around turning off lights, and Harry and William do the same thing now, as adults. ME TOO.
Prince Harry has inherited more than just a royal title from his dad Prince Charles! The newlywed revealed that he’s “obsessed” with making sure he doesn’t have too many lights on at home — a “small habit” he inherited from his father, who is a longtime environmentalist.
“He’s a stickler for turning lights off,” Harry says alongside his brother Prince William in the new documentary Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70, which aired on BBC One on Thursday. “And that’s now something that I’m obsessed with as well.” William then chimed in: “I know, I’ve got serious OCD on light switches now, which is terrible.”
Harry went on to say that his wife, Meghan Markle, has caught on to his habit at their cottage home in Kensington Palace. Harry said, laughing: “Which is insane because actually you know, I don’t know whether your wife doesn’t, my wife certainly goes, ‘Well why turn the lights off? You know its dark’. I go, ‘We only need one light, we don’t need like six.’ And all of a sudden it becomes a habit and those small habit changes he’s making, every single person can do. And I think it’s one of the key lessons that he taught us.”
I absolutely HATE it when people turn on all the lights in a room. There is no reason for six lamps to be on. Even if you’re like “well I need light to read my book,” all you need is one – MAYBE TWO – lamps on. What’s weird is that unlike Harry and William, I wasn’t raised to constantly turn off lights. My late father was the worst – he would turn on five lamps in one room and then promptly fall asleep with the room lit up like f–king Christmas. My mom isn’t as bad as that, but she definitely likes to have some unnecessary lamps on. Where do I get it? I don’t know. I’ve just never liked brightly-lit rooms. It drives me up crazy when people waste electricity like that, and I guess I’ve always just liked mood lighting. Seriously, just turn on one lamp and light a few candles. That’s the perfect amount of lighting for almost everything.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Haha, I go around my house all the time turning off lights. I’ve got two small boys and I swear they don’t know how to turn off lights (they can turn them on just fine though.) My husband is the same way. I’ll walk into our bedroom and all the lights are blazing and no one has been in there for four hours. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!
I can’t understand people who are incapable of turning off a light, lol. (Okay, kids get a pass to a certain point). I never have a light on if I’m not in the room, and even in my office I’ll sometimes switch a light off if I pass an empty conference room! My mom always told us to turn off the lights when we left a room, and it definitely stuck in my case.
Daytime lights drive me crazy. The sun is shining why are the lights on?? Unless you’re in the basement or it’s storming out there’s enough light. But i like my lights at cave-bright setting.
My work building does initiatives to have green days where offices turn off their lamps, windowed rooms etc for the day. I hope people follow suit all 365 because most aren’t needed.
@Eliza-I say the same thing to my kids ALL DAY LONG! They are still young but it drives me bonkers because I am for sure the lights turner offer. My husband has gotten better after 14 years of marriage but I still find myself following him around turning off lights from time to time. Right now though with the time change and being in the very edge of the time zone it’s pitch black by 5pm and will soon be by 4pm. It’s the worst.
Why can’t husbands turn the lights off?! WHY.
Or adult sons? Especially when they have been taught from babyhood to do so?
OMG Harry, it gets dark at 4pm this time of year. Even in Toronto that doesn’t happen. Give your poor wife some light.
On a sorta related note, if anyone’s struggling with lack of sunlight during the winter, I highly recommend getting a lightbox (SAD lamp). I live in a decent climate now but back in my cold, dark home country it was a life saver. It’s the kind of bright white light that you just don’t see during the fall/winter, even on a sunny day, and it’s amazing.
It doesn’t sound like he’s turning lights off while she’s in a room, just she walks into a room that’s dark and has to turn on the lights as she moves around their country estate. It’s a huge house, so for light turner off-ers I understand his itch to not waste.
The quote is about Nott Cott, and he talks about only having one light on in a room as opposed to six. I find this time of year difficult and have many SAD lamps (agreed @ccu). Friends who have moved here from North America often talk about how difficult they find the winter darkness. London is further north than any major North American city other than Edmonton.
Well, good for them! My mom and dad were light turner offers and I am, too.
I have a tabby that has a lot of black in her fur. I also have moderately high myopia – I need to light the place up like Christmas if I have to wander to the sink or the washroom at night. I’ve had too many near death cat tripping experiences haha.
That said … I’m also easily creeped out. So I tend to keep a couple of lights on when I’m sitting in the living room at night – especially if my husband is gone. On the the flip side, I wish this office would cut out about half of the lights. It’s awful.
I used to have some dark colored cats and can relate to what you are saying. Now I have two white Maine Coons, and can see them in the dark so there haven’t been any incidents. haha. That said, I turn off lights when I leave the room, but I like a lot of light when I’m sitting around. I think it’s because I live in Oregon where the sun doesn’t shine as much as in other parts of the country. I also use white lights out in the yard pretty much year round. (those are on timers).
@Erinn
I feel you….I never lost my fear of the dark, so its all lights blazing for me when Mr DuPont is not nearby. I even sleep with the lights on, or i risk some fairly vivid nightmares….hahaa!
On the other hand………I think its hilarious Charles is an obsessed light-turner-offer, but then travels almost everywhere by helicopter and Private Jet. Perfect mitigating combo. indeed.
I like a brightly-lit room especially during the winter. It would drive me dotty to have someone turning off the lights if I were still in the room.
We are turn the lights off people. Well I was and my habit grew on my husband. He then surpassed me to the point where he couldn’t sleep until all the lights in the house were LEDs (including vaulted recessed lights, attic and garage).
I hate overhead lighting or bright task lighting which is why I have so many lamps. I love warm ambient lamp light and not just one. I’ve been accused of loving life in a ‘cave,’ dark and cold. Having said that, my hubs turns lights off like the royals. Drives me batty. I like my mood lighting. It’s already low, but it doesn’t matter. If he’s walking out of a room he has to turn something off grrrrrrr.
Pet peeve- people who turn off the lights in public restrooms. Cause yeah, you leave the next person to feel around for a light switch in the dark, or somehow prop the door so they can find it? Like feeling around in a public restroom is sanitary… also a lot of those lights use less power to remain on than they when starting up. Just my psa, conserve in the way that works for you in non restroom spots lol 😉
I really like it when the owners have a motion sensor to turn on the washroom light. Hate fumbling around on a dirty wall to find the switch.
I live like a vampire and turn off lights like royals. The cave look works for me.
Billy boy is certainly not getting a pass for comparing turning a few lights off to ocd. Isn’t he supposed to be championing reducing mental health stigma?
I agree. Tossing off the term OCD like that is insensitive and adds to the stigma of mental health that he is supposed to fighting against.
I picked up on that too, then thought I was being a bit bitchie; I’m glad it isn’t just me
Lights out. When I was first married my husband called me a “stoner,” and I’m not, because I would watch tv in the dark. Isn’t that what you do in the movies? Save on those electric bills Harry, we know you’re on a strict budget!
We inherited lights that start off dim then brighten as they stay on. What the actual hell. I hate them. I’m turning the light on because I need to see RIGHt THEN not in ten minutes. Drives me bonkers and I end up turning all the lights on all around to compensate which has to defeat the purpose, right?
I turn lights off like a normal person not like the compulsive light turn offer I live with. It can be excessive no offense to those of you that are always Jonny on the spot with the lights. 🙂
You and I are the same person, down to inheriting those blasted dim lights. I HATE them!
Maybe they should just do some research and buy new bulbs. Every 60-watt equivalent bulb in our house mimics natural daylight (so one can actually see) and uses as much energy as a nightlight. If one is turning on *all* the lights, one is not using the correct bulbs. Also, I don’t give a flying fart in space about the energy conservation methods of people who regularly use private flights and require a TEAM of vehicles to travel with them. Being tight about one’s lighting won’t make a damn bit of difference, you spoiled, arrogant, pompous windbags!
EVERYTHING makes a bit of difference, tho’ point regarding helicopters and many vehicles is well taken. If we support their light turning offing, maybe we can encourage better effort on the others?
My roommate is really bad about this. If I’m not in the kitchen/living room, I keep the lights off. If he is home, he won’t turn the lights off until he goes to bed which I don’t understand. I turn off lights all the time if I’m not in a room. The only place I might keep more lights on than necessary is my parents’ house. Their family room looks over the dark backyard and there is a wood behind the house. There are huge windows that overlook it and it’s a creepy place to be by yourself so I typically will leave lights on in the kitchen if I’m sitting in the family room watching TV (it’s an open kitchen so you can see into the kitchen from the family room).
My office light has a sensor, if it doesn’t detect movement for a certain amount of time, it turns off to save energy but will turn back on when I walk in.
BTW this documentary is available on Youtube. I started watching it last night and it’s pretty great. It starts off with jaunty music following Charles around his country estate feeding farm animals.
Oh great, thanks! Really want to see this.
Things really got confusing when we started using compact fluorescent bulbs and were told not to turn them off and on as we did incandescents. Now we’re a mix of CFLs and LEDS so we have to know which is which. Love not having to change the new technology bulbs often… they last forever. Worth every penny.
Drives me nuts when the kids leave lights on all over the house!
I always say “if they knew the oven had a light they’d leave that one on too.”
Consumption is such a huge part of environmentalism, but these guys would far rather focus on turning off some light switches instead of actually taking a look at how they live their lives.
Yeah, turning off some lights isn’t exactly offsetting their massive carbon footprint!
I’m the same! I grew up in a very big house and our electricity bill was always high so our parents always instilled in us the need to switch off lights as you exit rooms and to never use more than needed. As an adult living in an apartment I live by this and it baffles me when people misuse finite resources like electricity.
During the energy crisis in the early 70’s I remember the big deal was setting your heat thermostat at 68 and if you’re leaving a room you turn off the lights. I don’t remember much of the 70’s, I was too young, but that has stuck.
But when you get older you don’t see as well with only one light. I find myself turning on more and more lights these days. I do turn them off when I leave a room, though. This getting old crap totally sucks.
I am British and turning off lights to save energy is a thing far more than in America, at least where I have lived. Power is very expensive and we are also concious of wasting natural resources, In the states, my neighbours leave their lights on all night, and when they leave the house to go shopping. THAT seems shocking to me.
So true!!! I’m always baffled by all these big office complexes in the US, with their lights on all night long.. Such a waste!
OHMYGOD. It drives me BONKERS when there are lights on in an empty room. When my sister comes to visit she leaves lights on in every room even when she leaves the house. BONKERS. I can’t relax if there are unnecessary lights on in my line of vision haha
I know someone who worked in BP and the Queen went round turning lights off so Charles learned it from his mum!
How on earth is this an article? Of course you turn off the lights you don’t need.
Have a senior cat who must have a light left on at night. If I accidentally turn it off he will sing the song of his light loving people until I turn it back on.
I’ve had to adjust to having all LEDs in our home. I didn’t know until fairly recently that if you’re going to return to a room within the next 15 minutes you should leave LED lights on, otherwise you’re shortening the lifespan of the bulb. If you’re leaving the room for a long while, turn the lights off. The efficiency of those bulbs depends on proper use.
I will beat my husband to death one of these days, though, with the cabinet doors he loves to leave open so much.