Prince Charles' time as a young volunteer was "very good for him".
Prince Charles
The 68-year-old royal opened up about his time as a cadet and a coastguard as a young boy and quipped he spent most of the time "hoping an enormous aircraft carrier would run aground" so he could rescue everyone on board.
He said: "Interestingly, I was a cadet myself years ago, dread to think it was in the 1960s I suppose, and I did rather enjoy my time as a cadet, very good for me it was I think.
"And also, I then became a coastguard at the school I was at in Scotland. We actually had to do real-life coastguard work. We had a coastguard lookout on the coast on the cliffs, and most of the time we spent hoping that some enormous aircraft carrier would run aground so that we could rescue the entire crew with what was then a very complicated set of breeches buoys."
The Prince of Wales - who is the heir to the throne - made the comments as he attended the Youth United Social Action Awards at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening (31.01.17).
Speaking at the event, Rob Wilson, the minister for civil society, spoke of the importance of getting young people involved in these volunteering activities.
He said: "We know that by giving young people an opportunity at an early age, they go on to become leaders of their own social change and help to build strong communities."
Amongst the winners were Newham Cornwell VC Sea Cadets from London, who assembled shoeboxes of toiletries for the homeless.
Kim Pybus, the executive officer of the organisation, said of the project: "The shoebox project for a homeless shelter was amazing, it was the juniors' pocket money that actually purchased all the items for the shoeboxes - socks, hats, gloves and other essential items a homeless person would need."
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