Charles Criticized Human Rights Act

Prince Charles criticized landmark human rights legislation in correspondence printed in a British newspaper Thursday, a leak which is fueling criticism of the heir to the throne's role in politics.

The papers obtained by The Times newspaper included scrawls offering comments in the margins of a 2001 letter to the prince from Lord Irvine, at the time Britain's top legal official, who was defending legislation that went into effect in 2000.

Prince Charles' office at Clarence House declined to comment on what it described as a private letter.

The leak suggests that Charles' efforts to protect his privacy continue to founder. The correspondence emerged only days after he sued to block the publication of diaries he kept during trips abroad.

A 1997 diary published last year in the Mail on Sunday newspaper revealed his dismay at having to fly business class to Asia and included embarrassing comments on the Chinese leadership, whom he called "appalling old waxworks."

The Times reported Thursday that Charles, who is the royal Colonel-in-Chief of a number of regiments, warned Lord Irvine that the Human Rights Act would lead to an increase in litigation in the armed forces and the police. Lord Irvine argued there was scant evidence of that.

"There has been no upward trend in the world of the civil courts in recent years," he wrote.

In the 2001 letter, the prince underlined a passage in which Lord Irvine described Britain becoming a society more "based on responsibilities and rights."

"But this is rubbish," Charles purportedly wrote in the margins. "We're a society based on rights alone."

CBS News contributor Simon Bates argues that Charles has a right to keep his private correspondence private.

"Why shouldn't he write confidentially to his pals?" Bates writes in a recent commentary.

But Charles is not afraid to speak out publicly on issues as well. While Britain's royal family usually keep their political views to themselves, Charles has cast himself as an advocate for heritage, tradition and the environment.

And these views have caused public outcries on more than one occasion that the prince is old fashioned and elitist. In November, Charles wrote a memo saying that "People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant RV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability." The memo was in response to an employee's inquiry about promotion prospects.

Publication of the prince's political views — and the claim by a former aide that the future king often gives politicians his "dissident" opinions — likely will fuel criticism about the monarchy's role in modern Britain.

"It's overtly political, it cannot be defended," said Stephen Haseler, professor of politics at London Metropolitan University and chairman of the anti-monarchist group Republic.

"This guy ... doesn't understand what the role of a monarch, let alone the heir of throne, is supposed to be in a constitutional monarchy."

Bates has a bit more sympathy for the prince. "He's spent most of his life searching for a role," he says. "Trying to find something to do that's really useful in a society that doesn't really want the Royal family to do anything at all."