Prince Charles On Being Relevant

Being Prince Isn't Always Easy, England's Heir Says

(CBS) 
As a member of the royal family, he is expected to avoid politically contentious issues. Yet he has openly opposed a number of government policies, including the development of genetically-modified crops. He’s raised questions about stem cell research and is a strong advocate of alternative medicine. He has expressed those views in speeches, letters and meetings with government officials, some of whom consider him to be a royal nuisance.

“How do you deal with that? How do you walk that line?” Kroft asked.

“Well, years of practice, perhaps,” the prince said.

“Does it get you in a spot of trouble from time to time from certain people?” Kroft asked.

“Oh, inevitably. But it seems to be part and parcel of the thing. I mean, if I wasn't, I think, doing these things, I'd be accused by people like you, doing nothing with my life,” the prince replied, laughing.

Asked if anybody ever asks him to tone it down a bit, the prince said, “Oh yes, of course. But I think the proof is in the pudding. And I think, you know, all the things they try to tell me to tone down over the years, if you look now, though, you'll find they're fairly mainstream.”

Twenty years ago when he announced that he was going to begin farming organically on his estate at Highgrove, no one knew what he was talking about and assumed it was another crackpot idea.

Today it’s big business in Great Britain, and Prince Charles has a line of high-end organic products produced on his estate called Duchy Originals that includes everything from biscuits and jams to mineral water, sausage and turkeys.

Prince Charles says the business has been quite successful. “And that has grown and now turns over £40 million ($71 million) a year. And I'm able to give away over a million pounds each year to my charitable ventures.”

When he arrives in New York on Nov. 1 as Great Britain’s most popular ambassador, he will be selling a political, commercial and diplomatic agenda prepared by the Foreign Office.

He will also be introducing the American public to his new wife, who will be making her first official overseas trip and donned a diamond tiara for the first time last week. She is not giving interviews right now, and may never.

She is said to be interested in supporting, not overshadowing, her husband, and has no interest in establishing her own public identity.

Why has it been 20 years since his last official visit to the United States?

“You don't want to see me all the time. You get bored,” the prince said, laughing.

“Is there anything you're looking forward to doing there, anything you're looking forward to taking the Duchess and showing, anything that you remember from your last visit? Are you going to get a favorite coffee or a meal?” Kroft asked.

“I shouldn't think so, no,” the prince said, laughing. “I mean, the problem is that it's quite a long time. … These official visits are quite difficult to escape, you know, to go to places. Be nice to do it privately. But I have to wait for other occasions.”

Kroft asked Prince Charles if he ever gets to do anything privately.

“Yes. But it's not so easy nowadays. I can't. I'd love to. But I'm, unfortunately, I seem to be, you know, people seem to know about it or invent it,” the prince said.

Some viewers may be wondering if Prince Charles is happy. We were specifically discouraged from asking that simple question with the admonition that there is nothing well-mannered English men and women loathe more than discussing their feelings. But Kroft saved his last question to politely pursue the personal and was deftly deflected with the royal chill.

“It seems like you have reached a certain point in your life where your children are grown, you've remarried. Your mother is approaching a significant birthday. It seems like your life is very stable and you seem very content in your job and your work,” Kroft said.

“Well, if you think that that's what it all appears, I am thrilled and delighted,” Prince Charles said with a laugh. “And we'll see what, you know, the American people make of it when we come.”