LONDON: In an unprecedented move, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne has vehemently denied that he is meddling in the political life of the country and thereby making him unfit to rule.
The Prince’s office issued a 33-page angry statement insisting that he had every right to share his views on important issues with government ministers. The future king was forced to make the statement after stinging criticism in the media about his open comments which many consider to be ‘political’, the most recent being when he asked a nutritionist at a hospital in Abu Dhabi if they had tried to get McDonald’s banned.
The timing of the defence is linked to the airing of a Channel 4 documentary called ‘Charles – The Meddling Prince’, which is to be shown on Monday evening. The programme accuses the Prince of sending a barrage of letters to ministers on a variety of his pet projects ranging from human rights legislation, complementary healthcare, Iraq, fox-hunting and farming methods.
Prince Charles denies his comments are ‘politically motivated’ or stem from self interest, but also make it quite clear that he will not relinquish his position as a ‘royal rebel’. The programme claims that the Prince’s continuous lobbying could plunge Britain into a constitutional crisis. Flouting the traditional neutral role of a monarch, Charles is putting the future of the institution at risk, they claim.
The rebuttal, formerly attributed to Charles’ private secretary Sir Michael Peat, clearly says “the Prince of Wales of all people knows that the role and duties of the heir to the throne are different to those of the sovereign and that his role and the way he contributes to national life will change when he becomes king”. Prince Charles has made it clear that he has no intention of changing his ways and he will continue to make an ‘active contribution to national life’.