The revelation that Prince Charles sees himself as a 'dissident' may help his image, writes Róisín Ingle.
We may have thought he was just talking to plants and railing against architectural eyesores all these years but according to revelations in High Court in London this week, Prince Charles had even bigger fish to fry. Giving evidence for a newspaper the prince is suing over publication of his private diaries, former aide Mark Bolland revealed that the heir to the British throne sees himself as a "dissident" firing off memos to government officials in a bid to influence opinion. Bolland also claimed that the prince boycotted a 1999 Chinese embassy banquet out of respect for Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The protest-loving Prince Charles has been unmasked.
Inevitably, speculation has followed as to the kind of "dissident" Prince Charles might consider himself to be. Is he a Che figure, or a bit of a Nelson Mandela? His missives on everything from compo culture to the flaws of world leaders were circulated to his staff as well as to politicians.
"I was always surprised that these letters were not treated as more sensitive and, indeed, was always surprised that they were written at all," said Bolland. He recalls seeing files which "denounced the elected leaders of other countries in extreme terms". One can't help wondering whether at any stage he gave the Taoiseach a lash with his pen.
The prince is suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing extracts of his journal covering a trip to Asia for the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The journal contains scathing criticism of the Chinese government and shows that the prince has a sense of humour many might have doubted existed. Lawyers for the prince argued that his journals should remain private, but the newspaper claimed that printing leaked documents is a "classic journalistic exercise".
However embarrassing the revelations might be for the British government - constitutionally, the royals are expected to steer clear of politics - the truth is that this week's insights into the mind of the heir to the British throne are likely to endear him to his subjects more than anything since his marriage to Diana in 1981. Because whatever the judge eventually decides, everyone agrees that the secret diary of Prince Charles is entertaining stuff.
It begins on board a Boeing 747 en route to Hong Kong, where the prince is dismayed to discover that while he and his staff are in club class, the likes of Paddy Ashdown, Robin Cook and Douglas Hurd are ensconced in first class on the deck below.
"It took me some time to realise this was not first class (!) although it puzzled me as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable," he writes. "Such is the end of the Empire, I sighed to myself . . ."
On arrival, he expresses sadness at the decommissioning of Royal Yacht Britannia and recalls Madeleine Albright "devouring" home-made Danish pastries on board. He also records his concern about the fate of Hong Kong after Britain's departure, his "sneaking worry about creeping corruption and the gradual undermining of Hong Kong's greatest strength - the rule of law."
Next he gives his opinion of Tony Blair, faintly praising the British prime minister: "He is a most enjoyable person - perhaps partly due to his being younger than me! He also gives the impression of listening to what one says, which I find astounding."
But the fact that Blair only spent a short time in Hong Kong irritated the prince, as did his suspicion that the prime minister would return home to "take decisions based on marketing research or focus groups". This week, Blair defended the prince's right to express his views. When asked by reporters whether the royal had overstepped the bounds of his position, he quipped: "I don't think I can answer that question until I have had the focus group."
Back in Hong Kong, after being moved almost to tears by hearing Elgar's Nimrod Variations played after governor Chris Patten's speech, his account of giving his own speech in the rain on a soggy red carpet, is quintessential Grumpy Old Man: "I had a premonition that the heavens would open in a serious fashion just as I got up to speak . . . the rain came lashing down and I found myself standing at the lectern trying to make sense of my speech which by now had become a soggy mess of paper pulp and each page stuck together. Never before had I been called to make a speech underwater."
In the journal the Chinese president's officials are dismissed as "appalling old waxworks" and a ceremony where Chinese soldiers goose-stepped on stage to haul down the Union Jack is depicted as an "awful Soviet-style display".
There are other "travel journals" at issue, showing the human face behind the stiff upper lip. Last year Prince Charles told a US TV station that the British public would only appreciate him after he was "dead and gone".
A few well-placed leaks of the other journals he has written on his travels might see that public appreciation come while he is still alive.