He's Been Labelled a Crank, a Reactionary and a Bore but Here One Writer Argues That, on the Issues That Matter, Prince Charles Has Been . . . VINDICATED

Byline: LEO MCKINSTRY

FEW public figures in modern Britain have been more mocked and criticised than the Prince of Wales.

'Eccentric', 'bizarre', 'ignorant' and 'unbalanced' are just some of the milder epithets used over the past three decades to describe his views.

Only last week he came under fire again, this time over his warnings about the health risks from genetically modified food.

Dr James Watson, whose pioneering work at Cambridge University in the Fifties, with Francis Crick, led to the discovery of DNA, described Charles as a Luddite. As president of the leading molecular biology institute in the U.S., Watson said we should dismiss the Prince's arguments because as a 'rich farmer, he doesn't have to be efficient'.

Such professional condescension follows a familiar pattern, with Charles caricatured as a hand-wringing intellectual who fails to understand his subject and is hopelessly divorced from the real world. As the Prince said last year, when he speaks on the causes he feels strongly about, he finds himself 'swamped …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: He's Been Labelled a Crank, a Reactionary and a Bore but Here One Writer Argues That, on the Issues That Matter, Prince Charles Has Been . . . VINDICATED. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: Daily Mail (London). Publication date: March 1, 1999. Page number: 8. © 2007 Daily Mail. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

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