He is a devoted grandfather to Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
So it is perhaps of little surprise Prince Charles looked perfectly at ease playing with a group of young children today.
The 69-year-old happily crouched down on a colourful rubber mat to play with a toy car with 23-month-old Rosie Jewell at the Caerphilly Miners Community Centre, in South Wales today.
Festive friend: Prince Charles shook hands with a man dressed as Father Christmas at Castell Coch in Tongwynlais on Friday. He was handed a sack of presents for George and Charlotte
Good spirits: The royal smiled as he carried out a busy day of engagements in South Wales
Plenty of practise: Charles, a grandfather, looked comfortable playing with the toddlers
He later beamed as he was introduced to a man dressed as Father Christmas, who handed him a sack of toys each for George, four, and Charlotte, two.
Charles seemed in excellent spirits as he made his way through a busy day of engagements.
He started the day at a reception for young entrepreneurs at the Celtic Manor Resort, in Newport, which was also attended by Welsh actor Luke Evans.
The Hollywood star, who played Gaston in Beauty And The Beast, took his parents to meet Charles at the Prince’s Trust event in Newport.
Charles spoke with young people about challenges they had overcome with help from the charity, which he founded in 1976.
He then chatted to Evans, who also starred in The Hobbit, about the actor’s ambassador role with the charity for the past 10 years.
‘To have him in Wales and being in Wales is a really wonderful thing,’ said Evans, who had flown in from Los Angeles last night for the event. ‘He was quite shocked that I had come from LA. He said, “you shouldn’t have done that”. I said it’s part of my duties. He is always very grateful and incredibly gracious.’
The Prince’s Trust Cymru has supported more than 3,000 people in Wales over the past 12 months.
Charles later visited Caerphilly Miners Community Centre, where he met volunteers and learnt about the site’s programmes.
Activities at the centre, which was founded by local residents in 2008, include language classes, yoga, cinema clubs and children’s parties.
He joined residents, staff and supporters for a Christmas party to celebrate supported housing services of the charity Abbeyfield, of which he is patron.
There was also a Christmas theme when Charles visited the castle of Castell Coch, in Tongwynlais.
Charles and the school children met Father Christmas and his sleigh in the castle’s courtyard.
Father Christmas handed him a sack of presents each for Prince George and Princess Charlotte.