THE Prince of Wales has hinted for the first time that he may marry Camilla Parker Bowles.
In a wide-ranging interview published today he also expressed his wish that the soul of his late wife, Diana, be allowed to "rest in peace".
He talked of the difficulties experienced by Prince William and Prince Harry in coping with recent publicity surrounding their mother and the commemoration of what would have been her 40th birthday.
When asked if he expected to marry again, he avoided giving a direct answer but left the door open. He replied: "Will I be alive tomorrow? Who knows what the good Lord has planned? You can't be certain about anything. I don't know.
"I just think it is important, particularly as I get older, to think about the journey that's coming next." He made the comments in his first in-depth personal interview since he admitted on television in 1994 that he had committed adultery.
They will be seen as the latest step in the carefully orchestrated campaign to win public endorsement for his relationship with Mrs Parker Bowles. Two weeks ago they kissed in public for the first time in view of photographers.
Talking of the welter of publicity about Diana, Princess of Wales, the Prince said: "The truth is that the children mind about the way in which she is dealt with. It must be quite difficult for them, I think. I wish people could just let her soul rest in peace."
In the interview, conducted two weeks ago by Mary Riddell and published in today's Daily Mail, the Prince also discussed his relationship with his sons. They were "terrific", he said, and he was lucky to have them.
He tried not to impose "rules and regulations" on his sons, but hoped that by talking to them and explaining he could make them wiser about life. The Prince said that he liked to tease them and they teased him.
He had to listen to the "duh, duh, duh, beat of their music in the background" but said he did not complain - although they often complained about him and his choices of music and literature.
He said: "You have to be very careful. I don't think you want to be best friends with your children. It's more about striking a subtle balance." He also talked about his loneliness at school, his ideas on a modern monarchy and his commitment to his charity, the Prince's Trust.
He said he ignored reports about a rift between him and his father, Prince Philip. Talking of the monarchy, he said he thought that some people wanted things to change too fast. At the same time, most people wanted stability and continuance.
One of his aims was to put the "Great" back into Britain, partly through the Prince's Trust, which has helped more than 400,000 disadvantaged young people since he set it up 25 years ago.
The Prince vented his frustration at the opposition he sometimes faced on urban regeneration, integrated health care, sustainable agriculture and public-private partnerships.
He had had "battle and battle and battle against a complete wall of opposition" against the professional bodies, the institutions and the media, he said. But some people who were once his detractors now thought him "frightfully modern".
Talking about how he had often been misunderstood, he said that whatever he did made no difference: some people had an extraordinary idea of him. He admitted that his deeply instilled sense of duty had been a burden, although he could not imagine what his life would be without it. He sometimes thought that it could be a happier, self-indulgent life.
He said: "But I mind about this country and the people who live in it." He wanted to put something back. "To me the object of life is not to pursue personal happiness. It sounds ridiculously self-righteous and trite, but I would rather pursue other people's happiness. In a funny way you achieve greater happiness by doing that."
The interview was timed to coincide with this weekend's Party in the Park, a Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park, the highlight of its 25th anniversary year during which it aims to raise £45 million.
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Royals given rules to prevent career conflicts
By Caroline Davies
JUNIOR members of the Royal Family are to be subject to new guidelines governing how they combine careers with their royal status.
The review followed the furore over the Countess of Wessex's remarks to an undercover journalist posing as a sheikh seeking the services of her public relations firm.
The Countess stepped down as chairman of R-JH and the row led to criticism that the Earl and Countess had exploited their royal status to further their business interests.
Public calls for the couple to choose between their careers or royal status prompted the two-month internal review by the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Luce, the Queen's most senior adviser.
Buckingham Palace is expected to announce the results next week, although it is believed that the guidelines will not be as far-reaching as some would have wished.
The review covers two areas: the issue of royal duties and full time careers, and, if those careers contain a commercial element, the issue of the possible exploitation of royal status.
It appears unlikely that the Countess will be forced to give up her career, although she is more likely to focus on PR for charities or organisations like the British Council. The Earl is also unlikely to abandon his film and television company, Ardent Productions.
It is possible, however, that the couple will scale down their overseas visits representing the Queen, and restrict such visits to the Earl's charities.
The Countess may also be advised not to undertake public engagements in her own right, but only in a supporting role to her husband. Although the review examines the roles of all members of the Royal Family, the Earl and Countess are the only two who will be immediately affected.
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent will escape the remit of the guidelines because they do not perform official royal duties.
Despite a recent controversy about the £6,000-a-year rent charged for their Kensington Palace apartment, the Queen is understood to be unwilling to renege on a rent agreement made with the couple in 1979.
Yesterday, Buckingham Palace made no comment over reports that the Duke of Edinburgh had vetoed stricter guidelines originally suggested by Lord Luce. The Duke is believed to wholeheartedly support the idea of the Earl and Countess continuing their careers.
When the review was first announced, the Queen, too, made it clear that that she supported her youngest son and daughter-in-law. The Earl also has the support of the Duke of York.
The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, however, are believed to think the couple should either relinquish their careers or their royal duties.
A Palace spokesman would not comment on which family members' views had prevailed, but said: "The Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne obviously have views and the Prince of Wales has his own views, but they are all agreed on the way forward.
"The consultation has now been completed with common agreement among members of the Royal Family. The outcome will be made known early next week."
Downing Street is understood to have been kept up to date on the progress of the consultation, but Mr Blair's official spokesman said: "We do not comment on our relationship with the Palace."
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Prince hints at marriage to Camilla(UK Times)
BY ALAN HAMILTON AND ANDREW PIERCE
THE Prince of Wales today gives his strongest hint yet that he may one day marry Camilla Parker Bowles.
In an interview with the journalist Mary Riddell to mark the 25th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust, he makes a significant break from his previous public stance by refusing to rule out an eventual union with his longtime companion.
Asked directly if he plans to remarry, the Prince replies elliptically: “Will I be alive tomorrow? Who knows what the Good Lord has planned. You can’t be certain about anything. I don’t know; I just think it’s important, particularly as I get older, to think about the journey that’s coming next.”
The Prince’s answer is given at the end of his first in-depth interview since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Until now his stock answer, and that of his officials, has been that he has no intention to remarry.
St James’s Palace sources insisted yesterday that his remarks, made at Highgrove the day before his celebrated first public kiss with Mrs Parker Bowles at a Somerset House charity reception she hosted, did not mean wedding bells were in the air. “In private he has never ruled it out,” one official said. “It is not an issue that is ever really discussed. What he was trying to say was that you cannot peer into the future; you do not know what’s round the corner.”
The journalist discloses in her interview, published today in the Daily Mail, that when she posed the marriage question towards the end of her 70-minute audience Palace officials appeared taken aback and tried to suggest that the Prince would not answer. He mused on the question, however, and answered anyway.
The Prince, 52, and Mrs Parker Bowles, 53, have been buoyed by public support for their relationship, which has become increasingly open and whose public face has been stage-managed by the Prince’s closest advisers. His officials have, however, always played down the prospect of the relationship being formalised by marriage, because it would raise many questions over a future Queen Camilla, particularly with the Church of England.
Lord Blake, the historian and constitutional expert, said that the Prince would encounter two serious obstacles to marrying Mrs Parker Bowles. “He could not remarry without the Queen’s consent under the Royal Marriages Act, and I do not know whether she would agree to this or not.
“The other inevitable factor to take into account is that if there was a marriage, Camilla would automatically have the title of Princess of Wales. I am not sure whether public opinion, on which the monarchy in the end depends, would really accept Camilla as the Princess of Wales.”
Stephen Haseler, Professor of Government at London Guildhall University and a leading figure in Britain’s republican movement, said that the Prince should resign from his royal duties.
“We should release him and then he can go off and do what he likes,” he said. “The problem with Charles is that he wants everything; he wants to be king, the money and glamour of his role, and his private life organised as he wants.”
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, said: “There is not a family unaffected by divorce and many would welcome Prince Charles’ intentions while at the same time being hesitant of Mrs Parker Bowles having any constitutional role.”
The Bishop of Durham, the Right Rev Michael Turnbull, said: “Last year 10 per cent of Church of England marriages were of divorcees, so within the Church of England at the moment this is not impossible. It depends on the consciences of individual clergy.”
One of the foremost critics of the scandals that surrounded the Prince of Wales’ former marriage, the Ven George Austin, the former Archdeacon of York, also welcomed the Prince’s comments. “I have been surprised that the Church has not already said that this relationship must be regularised with a registry office marriage,” he said.
Dioceses in the Church of England are now voting on proposals to rescind the Church’s ban on marriage of divorcees in church if a former spouse is still living. Liverpool is among the diocese that have supported the calls for reform.
Buckingham Palace, which the relationship became public knowledge the Queen has met Mrs Parker Bowles only once, at a private party at Highgrove to celebrate the birthday of former King Constantine of Greece, a close friend of the Royal Family.
The Prince speaks of the sorrow and loss at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, at a time when there is a resurgence of interest coinciding with what would have been her 40th birthday earlier this month.
“The truth is that the children mind about the way in which she is dealt with. It must be quite difficult for them, I think. I wish people could let her soul rest in peace without all these constant reminders.”
The remark may be seen as a veiled criticism of her brother Earl Spencer, who has given a series of interviews and helped to compile a film for American television to coincide with the opening of the family home at Althorp.
The Prince praises his sons, and is told by his interviewer that he seems like a normal father. “I don’t see why people think I’m abnormal,” he responds huffily.
Asked for his views on the future of the monarchy, the Prince says: “The problem nowadays is that some people want everything to change so fast. I actually think people subconsciously want stability and continuity somewhere in their lives.”
The Prince agrees that his reign will focus on social justice. “I mind very much about this country and about people having the chance to exploit their potential. I want to put the Great back into Britain,” he says.
The object of life, he says, is not to pursue personal happiness. “I know it sounds ridiculously self-righteous and trite, but I would rather pursue other people’s happiness. In a funny way, you achieve greater happiness by doing that.”
His own unhappiest time was at school, where he confesses to having been lonely. “People were hesitant about making friends because they thought they’s be accused of sucking up, that sort of thing.”
The Prince declines to elaborate on the reported long-standing rift between himself and his father. “People love trying to find a rift, anything to create a row,” he says. “You know, I just ignore it.”
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Prince back in the interview groove(UK Times)
BY ALAN HAMILTON
ON THE matter of pop music, the Prince of Wales is a fiftysomething firmly rooted in the Eighties.
Give him Diana Ross, or anything else on the Motown label, and he is happy. He will rock along to those geriatrics Dire Straits and Phil Collins more readily than he will to Atomic Kitten or Destiny’s Child. But his tastes are catholic enough to encompass Tom Jones, Jools Holland and Sir Elton John.
The Prince’s musical likes are discussed in his first in-depth interview since he confessed his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles to Jonathan Dimbleby. Eschewing the gravitas of Mr Dimbleby, the Prince is interviewed by Ant and Dec, the children’s television presenters, and comes over as a far more relaxed and informal figure than during that fateful appearance in 1995.
Sitting in the garden at Highgrove, the Prince admitting that a certain amount of jazz and classics compete for his affections with oldie rock.
The seven-minute result will be shown tomorrow night during ITV’s coverage of the Party In The Park, a celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust, with the Prince himself in attendance.
As Prince of Wales, he dutifully expresses his admiration for the Welsh pop band Catatonia and their lead singer, Cerys Matthews, who is due to perform at the party along with up-to-the-minute acts including Hear’Say and David Gray. The Prince talks of the importance of ambassadors for his Trust, of which Ms Matthews has become one, along with Phil Collins and other old rock stalwarts.
He wins approval from Ant and Dec for being a Dire Straits admirer, not least because the band’s leader, Mark Knopfler, is, like the presenters, a Newcastle lad.
“It’s the best interview he’s ever done,” a spokesman for the Prince’s Trust said. “He’s just so relaxed; it brought out his fun-loving side.”
Tom Shebbeare, chief executive of the Trust, said that Ant and Dec had been chosen because they were more likely to be watched by the disadvantaged youth that the Trust aimed to help.
“It was great to see how the Prince can identify with people of that age group and get on very well with them,” Mr Shebbeare said.
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Queen opens her royal oasis to the public (Electronic Telegraph)
By Caroline Davies
THE Queen will open her garden at Buckingham Palace to the public for the first time this summer.
As well as viewing the State Rooms, visitors will be able to stroll along the south side of the garden for 500 yards, with views of its 19th-century lake. Described as "a walled oasis in the middle of London", it is a haven for wildlife, with at least 30 species of bird, including great-crested grebes, coots, mallards and geese.
A "long-grass policy" has seen the natural lakeside environment flourish, and the garden has more than 350 varieties of wild flowers. Screened from London traffic noise by an artificial high bank called The Mound, it has its own "micro-climate", the high wall driving the temperature up.
The Palace Gardens are the biggest private garden in London, covering 40 acres. Mark Lane, who has been head gardener since 1992, said: "One of the nice things is that we can plant things without worrying that they will be stolen or vandalised.
"We can leave the plane trees to droop naturally knowing they won't be swung on, and the garden is full of rarities." It was designed by William Townsend Aiton, who was head of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, when George IV transformed Buckingham House into a royal residence in 1825.
He replaced the formal gardens with more natural landscaping, inspired by the work of Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. His main innovation was the creation of a lake by joining two existing ponds, and building The Mound.
The three-acre lake was fed by the overflow from the Serpentine and was originally known as the "fish pond", although fish were only added 26 years later to remedy water stagnation.
The death of Prince Albert from cholera in 1861 prompted an inspection of the lake, but the water was declared "of excellent qualities for dietic purposes". The lake was once home to a flock of exotic pink flamingoes, but they were slaughtered by an invading fox.
During the reign of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, now the Queen Mother, many of the dense Victorian shrubberies were cleared and a wide selection of decorative flowering trees and shrubs were introduced.
It is now home to more than 200 mature trees and a rose garden. The Palace opens to the public from Aug 4 to Sept 30. Tickets are £11 for adults, £9 for over-60s, £5.50 for under-17s, £27.50 for families (two adults and two children), and under-fives are free.
Advance tickets are available on the internet or by phone on 020 7321 2233. A ticket office in Green Park is open from July 28 to Sept 30. The proceeds will go towards the redevelopment of the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace and conservation of the Royal Collection, which is held in trust for the nation by the Queen.