James Wilson reads between the lines of the Prince & the Chinese takeaway
The Duke of Edinburgh is famous for his less-than-politically-correct remarks. Wincing as they often are, he seems to get away with it because he has otherwise been content to play a silent second fiddle to his spouse, who in turn has almost always studiously observed the requirement of her role to be seen as above the political fray, devoid of any revealed political opinions.
Royal soapbox
By stark contrast, their eldest offspring, the Prince of Wales, seems rather taken with his own opinions and has rarely been shy about expressing them, whether on modern architecture, the environment or the Human Rights Act. In 2005, his propensity to speak out landed him in some bother when a disloyal subject leaked some of his private journals to the press.
The journals concerned his trip to Hong Kong in 1997, when that particular slice of the rump of the Empire was being returned to China in what was inevitably referred to as the “Chinese takeaway”.
Prince Charles had been in the habit of writing journals
