Inside the clash between Boris and Charles

Boris Johnson is the kind of prime minister who believes that rules are there to be broken. This certainly seems to apply to his relations with the Crown. Conversation between the government and the monarchy is, by convention, kept strictly confidential. But when Prince Charles privately described the government’s Rwanda deportation policy as ‘appalling’ within political earshot, word leaked out suspiciously quickly – via Westminster channels. Johnson then chose to fuel the story at the Commonwealth summit in Kigali by telling broadcasters that Charles should keep ‘an open mind’.

Given that the Prince was standing in for the Queen as head of the Commonwealth, it was remarkable to have the Prime Minister revealing in advance what he planned to say to the acting sovereign – especially given that it was critical. It seems that the Prince, unlike his mother, has been deemed fair game in political circles. Courtiers of Clarence House fear their patron being dragged into politics; Westminster types counter that a meddlesome royal doesn’t know his place. It’s not just that the stage is set for a clash between monarchy and government: that clash has already begun.

The Prince and the Prime Minister ought to see eye to eye. Both are committed environmentalists and Charles helped spearhead the British government’s efforts at COP26 last year. They share a mentor in the late Sir Eric Anderson, who taught Charles and Boris at Gordonstoun and Eton respectively. Both men also spent time during their adolescence at Geelong Grammar School’s Timbertop campus in Australia. It’s noticeable, too, how little the Prince of Wales featured in Johnson’s Daily Telegraph columns.