London--Letters by British heir to the throne Prince Charles dubbed the "black spider" memos were released on Wednesday following a 10-year press freedom battle amid concerns over royal neutrality.
The 27 letters between Charles and government figures illustrated his views on topics ranging from dairy farming and the culling of badgers, to inadequate army equipment and the welfare of the "Patagonian Toothfish".
Charles, 66, has been nicknamed the "meddlesome prince" due to his outspokenness on topics dear to him, and the letters were at the centre of concerns that he could continue to lobby once king, shunning the convention of a politically neutral royal family.
Nicknamed for his spindly handwriting, the 2004-2005 letters were released after a battle between The Guardian newspaper and the reluctant government ultimately hailed as a press victory.
In one letter, Charles expressed concern to then-prime minister Tony Blair that British troops in Iraq were operating "without the necessary resources".
But much of the memos' contents are so mundane that they almost appear a "spoof", according to commentator Simon Jenkins.
"The running message of the black spider letters is not potency but a plaintive sigh of woe at a world going to the dogs," Jenkins wrote in The Guardian.
"The one topic on which he is said to exert unfair influence is over modern architecture" -- a reference to his outspoken objections to a series of public building projects.
But Paul Flynn, an MP for the opposition Labour party, said that Charles should not be "the most influential lobbyist in the land".
"He's putting at risk the future of the royal family by making politically partial statements," Flynn said, adding that his statements on acupuncture were "bad science".
"He's incapable of doing the job if he's politically partial. His views vary from the progressive to the eccentric to the barmy."
AFP
