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Veteran television presenter John Craven has said that Queen Camilla admitted that she and King Charles watch Countryfile after he made a cryptic remark.

John, 84, was speaking about his career to date and the adventures he has been on when he started talking about his experience of visiting the then Prince of Wales' home, Highgrove House.

During the visit to film the BBC staple, John said he asked the then future monarch about his concerns for rural Britain and whether he watched Countryfile, a show John has been on since 1989.

In response, the King said he couldn't necessarily say, before Camilla chipped in and admitted they watched it occasionally.

He told Great British Life: "I asked him if he watched Countryfile and he said he 'couldn't possibly say!' But, later on...Her Majesty The Queen Camilla told me they do watch Countryfile from time to time."

As well as commenting on his illustrious broadcasting past, John has also spoken about the future of Britain's environment.

In an interview with Countryfile magazine, the former Newsround presenter expressed dismay at Britain not mirroring other countries in its approach to recycling.

He said: "It is so disheartening; every day 17 million single-use drinks containers - representing huge amounts of plastic, aluminium, and steel - are thrown away rather than recycled in the UK. We see them everywhere, from busy streets to the wildest, most remote places.

"I once crawled deep underground, explorer-like, to the very end of a cave system, elated by my achievement - until the lamp on my helmet picked out a pile of empty bottles, proving I was by no means the first there."

John's comments come as the Labour governmentannounces new measures to help improve recycling in local areas. Last month, the government announced it was investing £1.1bn to improve local recycling services across England.

In a statement, the Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said: "This government is cleaning up Britain and ending the throwaway society.

"Under the Plan for Change, we are pumping more than £1 billion into local recycling services. This will revolutionise how we deal with our waste and ensure more of today's rubbish is recycled into tomorrow's packaging."

The move was welcomed by the head of resource policy at Green Alliance, Libby Peake, who responded: "For too long, the costs of dealing with packaging waste and recycling have fallen unfairly on local councils and, ultimately, taxpayers, when they have no control over the packaging businesses use.

"It's absolutely right that costs are now shifting to the companies who create packaging and can figure out how to use less of it in future. This is an important step in the move away from an inefficient and wasteful system."