Royal relevance

Tomorrow, HRH Prince Charles embarks on his first official overseas tour with his consort, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

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The eight day tour of the United States of America will include lunch and dinner at the Whitehouse as guests of President Bush.

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In preparation for the tour, Prince Charles has given a lengthy television interview with one of the major US networks, in which he talks about his efforts to remain relevant and worries that he may only be truly appreciated after his death. Well most positive contributors to British history only receive recognition after their death, it is a very British tradition !

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Sadly, Prince Charles is much maligned, both in the UK and overseas, in some ways he was very much a victim of what we on this blog refer to as Dianaisation - a public display of excessive and misplaced sentimentality. Most of HRH's very good work goes unnoticed by the British media who seem determined to picture him as an introspective loner, who talks to trees, dislikes anything modern and requires staff to furnish his toothbrush with paste on a daily basis. Not that there is anything odd about the latter two points, what !

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Much has been made of the fact that Charles and Camilla are taking a large number of staff with them on the forthcoming trip. These days anyone in the public eye has aides - compare the requirements of the Royal couple with any of the moronic (many) rock "stars" or the expanding band of sports primadonnas on tour and it will become apparent that in actual fact, the Royal "rider" is slight and excellent value to the British tax payer, particularly as for the most part, Prince Charles is funding the trip from his private income.

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In truth, Charles is very much the champion of the under-privileged, concerned about the environment, a modest man who like his father, isn't afraid to speak his mind (with a very dry British sense of humour) and has a range of specialist private advisors, who are not the same as those advising Her Majesty's Ministers (thanks be to God) . On a family note, lest we forget that Prince Charles has been a single parent for some years now and his boys are turning into fine young Princes.

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It is hoped that the US tour is viewed as a success; if more folk realised the extent of the good work done by The Prince's Trust, perhaps Prince Charles would be held in the high regard he so richly deserves, and thus encourage more US tourists to visit our green and very pleasant land.