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The Prince of Wales is a passionate supporter of albatross conservation.  At a function hosting supporters of BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force this week at Clarence House, his official residence in London, he told a specially invited audience about his memories of seeing the birds when he served in the Royal Navy.

The Prince said: "I remember sailing long distances across the oceans and one of the most marvellous treats of those long passages was to come out on deck and see another albatross or two circling around or following the wake of the ship.  There was something encouraging and heartening about the fact you were being escorted by these extraordinary birds." 

The Prince considered it our duty to find a way of ensuring that our grandchildren have the same thrill of seeing and knowing about the existence of these birds.  He admitted to what he described as "a certain amount of meddling" in the issue by writing to heads of state around the world, asking them to support it.

For more information on the Prince’s reception go to:

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/newsandgallery/news/hrh_hosts_a_reception_for_the_albatross_task_force_at_claren_724987502.html

and

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/02/atf_prince_charles_event.html.

The United Kingdom, including its Overseas Territories in the southern hemisphere, is a Party to ACAP.  These territories  support large populations of a number of ACAP-listed species, three of  which are endemic to the Tristan da Cunha Group in the South Atlantic, including the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena (click here for the ACAP Species Assessment).