Prince Charles’ letters covered up again

It is no secret that the Prince of Wales is a plant-whispering greeny; but the precise nature (and bias) of his ministerial lobbying is to remain secret. Republic, the gloriously self-important but sparsely supported campaign to boot out Brenda & Co, have been using Freedom of Information laws to expose what suggestions Prince Charles has made to government; but their attempts have been blocked, ironically, on grounds that publication would damage the future king’s claims to impartiality. The revolutionaries claim:

‘The Attorney General’s decision is all about protecting Charles and the royal family from scrutiny, putting his demands above the rights of the British people. The coalition agreement pledged to ‘throw open the doors of public bodies’ so that the public can hold them to account – that clearly doesn’t apply to the royal household.’

Fans of Michael Dobbs’s sparkling House of Cards novels will recall that a left-wing king bearing a remarkable likeness to Charles fares badly against the right-wing anti-hero, Prime Minister Francis Urquhart.