How Does Your Garden Grow?

Britain's Royal family has never been slow when it comes to freeloading. In the middle ages, King Henry the Eighth would pinch your wife if you weren't careful. One or two later Monarchs went further and would take the wife, the estate and the house. In the 1930s, Queen Mary's arrival at country house parties was always dreaded by her hosts. She developed a habit of expecting the most valuable items on display to be presented to her as a gift. Her hosts developed the habit of hiding the best silver.

Well, it now seems that this opportunist tradition has continued with Prince Charles. He's next in line to the throne and it looks like he's also first in line for a good opportunity when he sees one. Just recently he accepted an elaborate garden built by a Spanish company as a gift. Not just any garden this. Worth getting on for $200,000, it's been installed at his country house, Highgrove. But there's no such thing as a free lunch, or a free garden for that matter. To get it, Charles had to throw a party at Highgrove. Some party. His sons William and Harry, the two young Princes, were there, as was the supermodel Claudia Schiffer and members of the company's sales force. And Charles has also turned up in Spain to preside over the opening of a new factory owned by this same garden company. All of which has started tongues wagging here about how close the Royal family should get to commercial companies.

Mind you, all this fuss about a free garden could do the Prince a favour. As you know, Princess Diana's butler has been accused of stealing items from her collection and Prince Charles is known to have been keen for the case not to come to court. Why? Because there's been a long tradition of unwanted gifts to Royal personages being handed on to Royal staff. That way, they don't get so upset at their ludicrously low salaries. And Prince Charles wouldn't want to be accused of meanness, as well as opportunism, would he?
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