Prince Charles 'slams loony remarks'

Prince Charles might eavesdrop on his visitors, and he might even be the kind who talks to trees and treats plants like his children but doesn't take too kindly to being called a loony.

"I got a lot of flack for a lot of things. I mean, bewildered, frankly, as though you were doing something positively evil," News of the World quoted Charles as telling celeb gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

"I mean potty this, and potty that, loony this and loony that," he said.

The 61-year-old King-in-waiting confessed how he spies on the 30,000 visitors a year who pay £15 a time to tour his 900-acre royal estate in Gloucestershire.

"I have eavesdropped on what the visitors have said. When they're going round outside the windows sometimes you've got to lie on the floor," Prince Charles said.

Charles added that talking to his trees and plants kept him "relatively sane". The only time he thinks he's gone too far is when he compares his trees to his sons William and Harry.

"Everything I've done here, it's almost like your children. Every tree has a meaning for me," he said.

Then he quickly added, "Terrible thing really, mustn't get too attached. I shall have to try and detach myself soon, psychologically."