CHARLES: HOW I'LL RULE

[IRiSHMaFIA]

PRINCE Charles has vowed to stop “meddling” when he becomes king.

In a first revealing insight into how he will reign as monarch, the heir to the throne promises to change his ways once he becomes head of state.

In a lengthy document drafted by his right-hand-man Sir Michael Peat, he hits back at accusations in a TV documentary that he is “too political”.

The dossier, compiled in defence of the way the Prince lives and runs his affairs, reads: “It hardly needs saying that 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.

“In other words, it is misconceived and entirely hypothetical to suggest that problems will result if the Prince of Wales fulfils his role in the same way when King. He will not.”

Sir Michael, Charles’s principal private secretary, drafted the rebuttal in response to a documentary due to be aired tomorrow night which questions Charles’s fitness to be King.

Charles: The Meddling Prince will contrast Prince Charles’s role with that of his mother, who has reigned for 55 years.

“While the Queen has always adhered to her constitutional role and kept her opinions to herself, her son has proved an outspoken and controversial figure,” the documentary will claim.

The Channel 4 Dispatches programme will accuse Charles, 58, of meddling in affairs of state, as well as claiming that he uses “questionable” financial arrangements to run the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate that provides him with an annual income of more than £14million.

Furious at the allegations, Clarence House last week sent two letters to David Henshaw, executive producer of Hardcash Productions, which made the documentary, and Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson.

They were released on request to the Sunday Express in the “interests of openness”.

The dossier, which runs to 21 pages, excluding appendices, counters, among others, the claim that the Prince’s “interference” in policy matters could lead to a constitutional crisis when he becomes King.

Praising the Prince’s “remarkable achievement” of remaining “politically neutral” during the past 35 years, Sir Michael justifies Charles’s desire to have a role while his mother is on the throne, insisting he “cares deeply about the well-being of the United Kingdom” and everyone in it.

“Some people to whom you have spoken seem to suggest that His Royal Highness should not seek to participate in and make an active contribution to national life, but just wait to become King: However, most people feel that in a value-added age this would represent a failure to take advantage of His Royal Highness’s position to help people and make a difference for the better.”

Charles has aired views on a range of subjects in recent years, including climate change, organic farming, alternative health and modern architecture.

In 2006, Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown’s former spin doctor, claimed MPs are bombarded with missives on a wide range of subjects from Clarence House, known as “black spider” memos because they are mostly hand-written and feature enthusiastic underlining and exclamation marks. Whelan concluded that ministers saw the Prince as “a bit of a loon”.

Denying Charles is “driven by self-interest”, Sir Michael argues that the examples cited in the documentary of the Prince “interceding in political issues” are not political at all.

“The design of the National Gallery [which Charles famously called a ‘monstrous carbuncle’], modern farming methods, Atlantic salmon, foot and mouth disease, badgers and alternative health are not, I believe, regarded as ‘political’ by the vast majority of people,” he writes. “He does not write letters to influential people on a daily basis.”

In response to the claim that the Duchy of Cornwall pays no capital gains or corporation tax, he says the Duchy does not pay corporation tax but income tax, adding: “The Prince of Wales is not entitled to the Duchy’s capital profits and like everyone else is not required to pay tax on capital gains to which he is not entitled and does not receive.”

Sir Michael also refutes reports that Charles said McDonald’s should be banned during a tour to the United Arab Emirates last month. And he denies that Charles “enjoys a lavish lifestyle”, owns five homes and takes three months holiday a year.

Arguing that “the Prince of Wales lives in a way appropriate for his role and position”, he adds: “[He] works for at least part of every day in the year.”

A source close to the Prince last night condemned the documentary, saying: “Dispatches say they spent six months researching it but it looks more like six hours spent on Google.”

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I hope Dispatches butchers the bastard and shows him for what he truly is. He's a racist ego maniac that couldn't give a rats arse what anyone thinks as his opinion is all that truly matters.

[faceless]

[fritz]

Irish I take it you don't like this man