Posted on 10/29/2005 11:07:56 AM PDT by cloud8
· Shadow of Diana over visit accompanied by Camilla
· I struggle to be taken seriously, he tells CBS TV
Prince Charles will kick start a week long tour of the US tomorrow night with the rather gloomy hope that people will appreciate him better when he is dead.
He might have been referring to his reputation with parts of the British public, but the sentiment equally applies to America. His last official trip 20 years ago was overshadowed by Princess Diana's dance with John Travolta at a White House dinner, and since then America has been considered by some to be "Diana country", where reverence for the late princess makes it difficult for Charles to attain popularity. To prepare for Charles' return with his second wife, Camilla, his charm offensive has started early.
In an interview to be broadcast nationwide on CBS tomorrow evening, the prince admits he struggles to be taken seriously in his attempts to be relevant, and that his efforts to "make a difference" are insufficiently recognised.
Asked what the most difficult part of his job is, he replies: "The most important thing is to be relevant ... It isn't easy, as you can imagine, because if you say anything, people will say, 'It's all right for you to say that.' It's very easy to just dismiss anything I say ... It's difficult."
Referring to Poundbury, the Dorset village he has built in traditional style, and a programme for helping older downsized workers back into employment, he says: "What I've tried to do is to put my money where my mouth is as much as I can ... by actually creating models on the ground."
The prince tells CBS that worrying about Britain and its inhabitants is his duty. "I try [to make a difference], " he says. "I only hope that, when I'm dead and gone, they might appreciate it a little bit more."The interview, conducted in the UK, is part of some of the most thorough groundwork ever for a royal tour. Prince Charles and his wife will arrive in New York on Tuesday before visiting Washington and San Fransisco, with the likelihood of a brief headline-grabbing stop-over in New Orleans to visit the Hurricane Katrina mopping-up operations. The tour is the Duchess of Cornwall's first official overseas visit and her first direct exposure to the foreign media. Her every move will also be closely scrutinised by a larger than usual travelling British press contingent.
In the first two days the couple will visit Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Centre in New York, inaugurate a memorial garden to the British victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and take tea with Kofi Annan at the United Nations. On Wednesday he heads to Washington for a private lunch with George Bush and his wife, and later a formal dinner at the White House. Thereafter the visit moves into the more routine terroritory of war memorials and environmental projects, speeches (the duchess is speaking on osteoporosis), and presentations, with the prince even due to receive an award for his services to architecture.
Officially it is in no way a test of the duchess's performance as a public figure. "No it's not, it has never really entered our heads. The duchess performs superbly," said one Clarence House official. "Of course, it does happen to be a very big tour to the world's only super power."
In preparation, British-based US correspondents have been treated not only to a day-long trip to the prince's Gloucestershire farm and Poundbury but a reception last Wednesday at Clarence House at which they were able to question Charles and Camilla informally - a favour not usually accorded British reporters.
One correspondent told the Guardian that the royal couple "charmed the socks off" their guests, who included expatriates such as businessmen, diplomats, journalists, and the writer Bill Bryson, enthusiastically working the room as though on a campaign trail and expressing interest in what they were told about the mood in the US. "Americans are suckers for that kind of thing, but the food wasn't that great," the correspondent added.
American correspondents say there is limited interest in the passing royals, though the best-selling US People magazine is sending a London correspondent to accompany the prince and duchess on their chartered plane.
The story the prince especially wants to promote is his good works for charity and his serious interests in organic farming and architecture - things that his staff have long-since despaired of interesting the British media in. On Charles's last official visit in 1985, the headlines and pictures were stolen by Princess Diana dancing with John Travolta at the White House. Twenty years on, officials hope the focus will be on visits to a farmers' market and a school where deprived youngsters learn to cook wholesome food.
It is, by common consent, a worthy but dull itinerary. Clarence House describes the visit as "soft diplomacy" - which may be needed at the White House, meeting a president whose views on a whole range of issues, including Iraq, global warming and climate change, tally not at all with those of the prince.
They're off to a bad start.
That's an oxymoron.
Personally, I find him totally offensive.
I'm not sure why we should drool over some guy whose biggest accomplishment was being born.
I understand that there is a new awards program.
Joining ''The Upper-Middle-Class Twit of the Year Award'' is ''The Royal Twit of the Year Award''.
Charles is the certain winner.
Gracious, the creep and his slut are visiting us. Send the idiots back. We've got enough dummies and deadbeats inhabiting the US, some born, some "just visiting".
Hey Chuckles - how can we miss you if you won't go away?
Is he gonna be on the Maury Povich Show?
Take what this Yank says with a grain of salt, but there are times when I wish that the Brits would do to the entire House of Hanover what they did to Charles I.
Hey Chuck, dont you know that Yanks could care less about the House of Windsor? We like Tony Blair and are grateful for the UK's support in the war but you "Royals" are only royal in your country. BTW, your father was a complete @$$.
You have no idea how much I agree with you.
The House of Stuart had very funny notions about being "proper" kings and sitting on the throne, ruling without Parliament. The House of Windsor has very funny notions about actually being all that important. Which apart from Her Majesty, they're not.
Regards, Ivan
Good grief. What a miserable whiner.
Why, he's so irrelevant I'm not even going to post......:)
WHy do you find him offensive?
I guess since I don't follow the British Royal family too closesly, I've always wondered why people seem to not like this guy.
Have you ever heard the twit attempt to answer questions from the press - or heard any of his "public" statements?
Or -- the captured telephone conversation when he informed Camilla that he would like to be her "tampax"?
The Prince is clearly the result of far too much inbreeding and birthright advantages..
He's a jerk.
Semper Fi
"...enthusiastically working the room as though on a campaign trail and expressing interest in what they were told about the mood in the US."
As ernest as Charles is about being taken seriously I wonder how different his turn about the room was from the riotous portrayal of just that sort of thing by John Cleese as Robinhood in the movie "Time Bandits"
Considering this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1511765/posts , you can't count me in the "he's an idiot" category.
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