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Prince Charles has been told to ‘stay out of politics’ by Downing Street after criticising the government’s Rwanda-UK immigration plan. Charles, 73, described a policy that sends asylum seekers to Rwanda as ‘appalling’, sparking a backlash from Tory MPs, who said the comments could present ‘serious constitutional issues when Charles assumes the throne’.
An unidentified senior cabinet minister told The Sunday Times: “Prince Charles is an adornment to our public life, but that will cease to be charming if he attempts to behave the same way when he is King. That will present serious constitutional issues.”
Disagreements between the British Royal family and the Commonwealth should take place ‘behind closed doors’, according to the unnamed official.
Public interventions as a monarch
The official said: “A lot of his [Charles’] views on architecture and horticulture are interesting, and I would always be willing to listen to them privately. But that’s very different from him making public interventions as monarch. The Queen’s genius is that most of us have no idea what she thinks.”
Another cabinet member, who also chose to speak out anonymously, said that Charles would be ‘expected to discontinue these comments when he serves as King’.
The anonymous official told The Sunday Times: “While this kind of intervention will be tolerated while he is the Prince of Wales, the same will not be true when he becomes King.”
Highlighting another contrast between Queen Elizabeth II and Charles, another official said: “The trouble with Charles is that he thinks he needs to be interesting and he thinks people are interested in what he thinks. He seems to have misunderstood the role.”
Disappointed with the law
Previously, Charles has described his ‘disappointment’ over the law, which physically deports people back to Rwanda, despite the policy being upheld by the UK High Court.
According to The Sunday Times, a spat between Boris Johnson’s cabinet and the Royals stems from an initial meeting between the two leaders.
It’s understood that during the meeting, Johnson displayed some ‘disrespectful’ behaviour towards Charles with Johnson said to be relaxed about punctuality while Charles is a stickler for time-keeping.
Politically neutral
Following Charles’ most recent comments, the Royal Family released a statement saying that ‘once Charles inherits the throne from his mother, he will act politically neutral’.
Previously, Charles has said that he will act within ‘constitutional parameters’ when he is the King’ because he is ‘not that stupid’ to violate UK law.
Charles’ comments have drawn sharp criticism from across the political spectrum. Former UKIP and Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage, posted on his official Twitter account: “Unless Prince Charles wants to destroy the monarchy, he had better shut up fast.”
Meanwhile, talkRADIO host, Julia Hartley-Brewer tweeted: “Prince Charles is entitled to his own opinions. But he is not entitled to allow those opinions to be known if he wants to be King. That’s the deal. Both he and Prince William have already crossed into political territory with their climate preaching. This is a step too far.”
Rwanda policy a response to Channel crisis
The UK’s Rwanda immigration policy was a response to a record number of migrants arriving on UK shores after crossing the Channel from France, and then applying for asylum. According to the BBC, more than 28,000 people crossed the Channel in boats in 2021, while 10,000 have already arrived in 2022.
However, despite Charles facing a huge backlash, some praised the Prince of Wales’ stance, including Labour MP, Diane Abbott, who tweeted: “Prince Charles is quite right to call Boris Johnson’s policy of dumping asylum seekers in Rwanda ‘appalling’.”
Meanwhile, LBC radio host and journalist James O’Brien also backed Charles’ stance, posting on Twitter: “Of course deporting people to Rwanda is appalling. Everybody agrees with Prince Charles about that. The point is that some people really, really *want* refugees to be treated appallingly & that character defect is almost impossible to fix from the outside.”
Royal commentator Georgina Lawton claimed that Charles is ‘itching to get involved in government and politics’.
Lawton said: “He is itching to get involved in lobbying at that level but of course it is not allowed. It is going to be very interesting to see whether or not he can hold back.”
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