Prince Charles' Christmas reading

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla have appeared alongside a host of famous faces to help raise awareness of actors who are currently out of work owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The royal couple have been joined by the likes of Tom Hardy, Dame Maggie Smith and Joanna Lumley to read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' for a special charity video.

Prince Charles opens the video by reading its famous first line: "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

The Prince of Wales has experienced the virus hand, after testing positive for coronavirus in March.

And Charles admitted he "got away with it quite lightly" when he contracted the potentially deadly virus.

Speaking about the battle with his respiratory illness, he shared: "It makes me even more determined to push and shout and prod if you see what I mean. Whatever I can do behind the scenes sometimes. I suppose it did partly, I mean I was lucky in my case and got away with it quite lightly. But I've had it, and I can so understand what other people have gone through. And I feel particularly for those for instance, who have lost their loved ones and have been unable to be with them at the time. That to me is the most ghastly thing. But in order to prevent this happening to so many more people, this is why I'm so determined to find a way out of this. In order to bring the world and all of us back to the centre, back to understanding what we have to do in relationship to the natural world."

The full charity video has been posted on Clarence House's official social media channels.