WAY TO LEAD IS BY EXAMPLE, CHARLES

[FetchingHag]

[WilliamDaily] WAY TO LEAD IS BY EXAMPLE, CHARLES



WAY TO LEAD IS BY EXAMPLE, CHARLES


Prince Charles is writing a brochure to explain how he sees his role
as Prince of Wales, or PoW. He is doing it partly as guidance for
Prince William, but mainly, one suspects, to justify his own meddling
ways and eccentric prejudices.

Some of his ideas are fine - he farms organically and sets an
example. He believes in human-sized architecture, he wants to protect
the English language like it's totally under threat, innit, and he
supports the arts, so long as they are classic and traditional.

He is basically a reactionary and thinks everyone else should be too,
and it makes him feel "tirribly upsit" when his subjects are rude and
modern. He sees it as his job to represent to the powers-that-be -
the Church and Government - the views of the ordinary man in the
street, and writes them endless letters about what he thinks the man
in the street thinks.

Now, Prince Charles no more knows what the man in the street thinks
than Homer Simpson. He thinks he knows because he meets a cross-
section of the public on official engagements or at staged
conferences.

There, the man in the street is on his best behaviour. He says what
he is drilled to say, and what the Prince wants to hear, and no way
can the PoW (Prisoner of Windsor?) get a real understanding of the
sufferings and grievances of the common man or woman, as expressed in
the lounge bar of the Liver 'n' Onions.

Does he walk up and down Tetbury High Street interviewing people and
saying it really is appalling to council tenants on benefit? Does he
heck. All he does is confirm his own prejudices - and then write
long, annotated, scribbly letters about them.

The powers-that-be worth their salt will reply politely and do
nothing because it's not the Prince of Wales's place to try to modify
or dilute policy. Pestering Ministers with personal views is
something we can all do, but you can't help suspecting that our views
carry a little bit less weight than those of the heir to the throne,
as architects of the City of London scheme that the Prince put the
kybosh on will attest.

No, we don't need an interfering Prince, because we live in a
democratic society and can express our views through our MPs and the
ballot box. Maybe Prince Charles cannot do the same, but he should
still not expect his views to count more than ours.

What we need, if we must perpetuate the monarchy, is well educated,
working royals who live lives that are recognisably like ours. Lives
which do not include hunting, a public school education and a home
that is a palace. Prince Charles may find his role a burden, but the
perks under the present system are gigantic.

The royals are always complaining about excessive media attention,
but if they lived lives more ordinary, the attention would wane; it's
not as if they are intrinsically very interesting people. Their
social role should be to represent our nation and encourage and
advise and enable, not by writing letters to politicians but by
example.

We need someone to eat rubber chickens for Britain, and they've
chosen to do it in return for great privilege and luxury.