"Charles - The Meddling Prince"

[Macaw]

Tonight Uk Channel 4 will blast Charles in a documentary with the above title.

The essence of their broadside is that he is too opinionated and "political".  (Well, we know someone who is unlikely to be accused of "meddling" in DK; if for no other reason than that he's almost never there....)

The TV show says that Charles's "meddling" disqualifies him to be king.

Clarence House has pre-empted the criticism by issuing the following statements: 

Claim: He has a secretary specifically to deal with letters to influential people to whom he writes "on a daily basis".

Reply: No such secretary exists, and he does not write to influential people daily.

Claim: The Duchy of Cornwall, source of his annual revenue, pays no capital gains or corporation tax.

Reply: The prince pays income tax on revenue profits, and as he has no right to the Duchy's capital, does not pay tax on it. The Treasury is the Duchy's independent trustee.

Claim: Trees in Grenscombe Wood on the Devon/Cornwall border were sold by the Prince to the Duchy for £2.3 million though some thought they already belonged to the Duchy.

Reply: The prince bought them with money from the Duchy's revenue account, so they belonged to him. When he decided to sell, the Duchy were interested and the Treasury approved the deal.

Claim: The Prince has an Audi RS6 Quattro.

Reply: No. The prince's Jaguar and Range Rover are run on biodiesel. He drives his Aston Martin for 100 miles or so each year.

Claim: The Prince summons a Royal Mail van and driver for his correspondence.

Reply: The Post Office organises all transport for official papers for all senior members of the Royal Family.

Claim: He takes three months holiday each year.

Reply: He works for at least part of every day in the year.

Claim: The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health has an agenda to encourage the NHS to spend more money on alternative medicine.

Reply: It has "no such agenda" and does not support or promote "alternative medicine", but the use of the best of all healthcare.

Claim: The prince told a nutritionist that McDonald's should be banned.

Reply: The prince is absolutely certain that he never said McDonald's should be banned in his private conversation.


(my bold)

http://www.telegraph.co.u...007/03/12/ncharles212.xml

[Avise]

Thanks for the posting Macaw.
He might have 3 months vacation but he still has over 600 engagements a year. Perhaps he should set up a summer school for the younger crown princes to show them how to work.
He is going to be a different monarch to his mother- god love him- he will be an old pensioner when he ascends the throne. But he is reluctant to relinquish his role as a "royal rebel" apparently.

[Macaw]

Well, the show must have aired by now and there's been no fallout that I know of. 

I'm not complaining about his workload BTW.  I think he's hung around for 60 years now and he's forged an interesting path for himself without shirking his duties.