The stunning Lady Elliot Island — an Eco-friendly resort surrounded by Australia’s Great Barrier Reef where giant turtles pop their heads up from the waves and manta rays swim along the ocean floor — delighted Prince Charles when he traveled to the little piece of paradise on Friday, April 6. During his visit, the royal met with the conservationist Irwin family and the eldest Irwin child, Bindi Irwin, was totally starstruck by meeting Prince Charles!
“He is amazing. He is a true wildlife warrior. He was so nice and so incredibly wise. He has so much knowledge. I wanted to take it all in,” the 19-year-old adorably gushed after their meeting, according to The Australian Women’s Weekly royal Correspondent Juliet Rieden. During the visit, Bindi and her younger brother, Robert Irwin, 14, showed Charles some newly hatched baby turtles and photographer Robert then presented the royal with a mounted canvas of one of his photographs as a gift. It was a giant turtle taken in the waters off Lady Elliot Island.
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Bindi’s boyfriend, Chandler Powell, also joined the family so they could show Charles some of the baby turtles. “He will love them,” Bindi predicted of Charles’ reaction to the tiny animals. After the meeting, Prince Charles took a tour of the reef fringing the island through a glass-bottomed boat and marveled at the coral and saw some coral trout fish.
The prince was reportedly eager to visit Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to see firsthand the damage wrought by climate change and human kind. A passionate conservationist, Prince Charles was participating in a forum of business leaders, politicians, scientists, and non-for-profit groups exploring new ways to protect the reef. He specifically wanted to be involved in the high-level discussion and joined the round table meeting.
Prince Charles has spoken out twice in the past six months about the threat climate change poses to the Great Barrier Reef and other major coral reefs internationally, a situation he has called “catastrophic.” He said companies or individuals who resisted environmentally-friendly practices often claimed it was “the end of the world.” The prince added, “But you usually find there is life after death.”
This post originally appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.
