Charles’s letters and the democratic process

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/commentisfree/2015/may/14/charles-letters-democratic-process

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On 26 June 2010 the Guardian reported high court judge Mr Justice Vos’s findings that Prince Charles’s interference in a planning application for the development of Chelsea barracks was “unwelcome”. Now the published letters of the prince to politicians (Report, 14 May) show his advocacy of measures supporting farmers. He should have declared an interest. The Duchy of Cornwall receives annual common agricultural policy payments of public money in eye-watering amounts, with £161,060 received by the Duchy of Cornwall in 2013 and £4,159,663 received by the Duchy Rural Business School. Other family members receive millions of pounds (see the Defra CAP payments website). A very great proportion of the Duchy’s reported 131,000-acre landholdings qualify for annual CAP payments funded by UK taxpayers.

Undeclared financial interests and behind-the-scenes lobbying of government are interference in the democratic process. When and if the people of Britain move to consign monarchy to history, and if the decision is to be made democratically, which is in everyone’s interest, this requires transparency and honesty.James ArmstrongDorchester, Dorset

• Now we can know what Prince Charles wrote to government ministers. More relevant surely is how those minister responded. Is there any suggestion that the ministers responded more favourably to him than they did to anyone else? Can I be sure that the PM – and other ministers – will treat my letters to them just as seriously as those from HRH? My writing is already rather spidery.Adam MoliverCheltenham, Gloucestershire

• Not only should the published letters of Charles now be available, but those hidden by the FoI amendment of 2010 should also be in the public domain. The government represents those who vote for it and ministers in their daily role operate on our behalf, whether we want those individuals to or not. The idea that this unelected man, a member of a family with no constitutional role, should be able to bend the ear of those in public office under the cloak of secrecy smacks of the divine right. Such secrecy is irrelevant and inappropriate. Jack Straw’s individual view is misguided. Freedom of information should mean precisely that.Steve WilkinsLondon

• I am much more concerned about the extensive lobbying of Westminster and Brussels by the oil, junk food, tobacco and finance industries that results in policies that underpin climate change, obesity, cancer and an “austerity” programme. All disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.Shona MurphyOxford

• Prince Charles is a decent man, in a position that he would not, perhaps, have chosen had he any freedom in the matter. He chooses not to sit about and twiddle his thumbs, as some other royals do, and seeks to use his influence to good effect. He’s not perfect but neither was Winston Churchill, the nearest we have to a secular saint. Scanning through the letters, there’s nothing he has said with which I would take issue, apart from the paragraphs about badger culling, where he is 100% wrong. On the plus side, there must be thousands of service families who are comforted to know that he lobbies for greater resources for the armed forces.

I’ve been a Guardian reader for more than 50 years and I usually approve of the Guardian’s political stance. Given the latest election results, I would have preferred the newspaper to have spent the last 10 years concentrating its effort on something more worthwhile.Ken VinesYelverton, Devon

• If Prince Charles is unhappy with having to remain neutral on political issues, I believe there is an active role available to him as (say) “protector of free speech and open government”. Taking action to ensure that all his subjects are properly represented and have a right to be heard would surely be challenging enough, hard to criticise and of great value. Even if supported by some segments of the population, using unelected privilege to push personal issues and trying to cover his tracks via the courts is not an encouraging start.Jim PettmanAnglars-Juillac, France

• One of the most striking features of the letters is the sheer range of subjects over which Prince Charles claims expertise. I was reminded of Marx’s prediction that, liberated from the constraints of the labour market, no one would be confined to one exclusive sphere of activity, but instead would be able to “hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening”. Equally unencumbered by the need to sell his labour, the prince is apparently able to be an architect in the morning, an educational theorist in the afternoon and an agricultural economist in the evening. Perhaps, even in these dark days for the left, it will be able to draw some comfort from this striking validation of Marx’s theories.Professor Philip MurphyDirector, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, school of advanced study, University of London

• I wait with bated breath for Charles’s letters concerning the dismantling of the NHS and the attack on the democratic rights of trade unions to be winging to the appropriate cabinet members of this new Tory government.Cllr Bill SheltonLeicester

• Having trawled through the “black spider letters”, am I alone in my view? I find that I am now little worried about the influence that the prince might have had upon government and even less concerned about any of the constitutional issues that might arise because of his apparent lack of impartiality in the democratic process.

What concerns me much more is that we now have it in black and white that the prince is, it seems, a rather immature and not very bright man. His letters are full of dubious and shallow assertions which not only seem to make his views based on no more than simple prejudices rather than informed opinion, but also display a total inability to grasp the real issues, the bigger picture and the detail of important national, social and legislative issues. Reading them reminded me very much of the sort of thing 10-year-olds in my class might write when I asked them to say how they might change the world if king or queen for the day – well-intentioned and enthusiastic on the one hand but immature and easily seen through on the other.

I’m also concerned that his advisers seem happy for him to display these weaknesses – or they do not recognise them and merely do his bidding. My lasting impression is that we have a man waiting to be our monarch who, in all good faith, is not sufficiently intellectually able, mature or aware enough to undertake this critical role in the life of the nation.Tony BealeNottingham

• Now that republicans have had their fox shot by the publication of perfectly reasonable and innocuous letters to ministers from Prince Charles, perhaps they can now appreciate his worth, and in the unlikely event of an imminent republic, Charles Windsor would be an ideal candidate for president.Charles FosterChalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire

• Suddenly HRH Prince Charles gets more letters in the Guardian than I’ve had. Is this fair?Mary JacksonGilston, Hertfordshire