A nasty little non-story

The release of details under the pernicious Freedom of Information Act - a veritable snoopers' charter - about the routine the sending of Cabinet papers to the Prince of Wales to that sad little organisation Republic and its subsequent publication in The Guardian is, of course, a non-story. This has been the practice since it was established by King Edward VII at the beginning of his reign for his heir apparent, the future King George V. It is an obvious and sensible thing for the government to do, and more suitable for it to be subject to criticism were it not done.

What is unpleasant about this is that it appears to be part of a nasty little campaign in recent years to denigrate the Prince and impugn his ability to be a future monarch. I do not believe this will be successful, but I do think attention should be drawn to this mind-set being fostered where they hope it may bear fruit by opponents of the Crown as an institution or to its functioning as aliving part of out constitution.