Charles: 'Ambition a good thing'
LONDON, England -- Prince Charles has mounted a staunch defense of his "old-fashioned" values following a damaging row over his views on social status and ambition.
The heir to the British throne was accused of believing people could not rise above their station after a memo was disclosed in which he blasted a "child-centered" education system "which admits no failure."
The memo led Education Secretary Charles Clarke to call the Prince of Wales "old-fashioned and out of time." Health Secretary John Reid later joined the attack, saying aspiration and ambition were the "driving force" of the country.
On Monday, the prince used a speech at Lambeth Palace -- the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury -- to reject criticism of his views.
He told his audience that the idea he thought people could not rise above their station was "a travesty of the truth," the UK's Press Association reported.
No media were allowed to hear the speech, which was delivered in the presence of Archbishop Rowan Williams and 28 Church of England bishops. But the prince's office released the text of his speech over the weekend.
According to the text, Charles stressed his belief that everyone should be encouraged to "fulfill their aspirations" and highlighting his own work to help young people.
"I know that my ideas are sometimes portrayed as old-fashioned," the prince said in the speech. "Well they may be. But what I am concerned about are the things that are timeless, regardless of the age we live in.
"Also I have been around long enough to see what were thought of as old-fashioned ideas have now come into vogue. Ambition is a good thing and should never be constrained by a person's starting point in life.
"People must be encouraged to fulfill their aspirations in ways that recognize their different abilities and talents. Thank God they do and that we are not all the same."
Members of the clergy leaving the event refused to expand much beyond the extract from the prince's speech issued by Clarence House.
One bishop told PA: "There was nothing controversial in it whatsoever. It was off the record."
Another, who also refused to be named, said before hurrying off: "It was very good. It was very interesting."
The Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, who listened to Charles, also declined to comment, with his spokesman saying: "The archbishop has said on more than one occasion that the meeting was private and the bishop respects that."
The prince, who spent two hours at the seminar, was accompanied by his most senior aide, private secretary Sir Michael Peat. His communications secretary Paddy Harverson was also monitoring his five-minute introduction and said prior to the event that the prince was making the speech in order to clarify the matter.
On Sunday, the education secretary attempted to draw a line under the row by praising Charles' efforts to develop people's ambition.
Clarke said he fully supported the sentiments behind Monday's speech and insisted the debate over the memo was now closed.
In his memo, the prince complained: "What is wrong with people now? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?
"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centered system which admits no failure.
"People seem to think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability.
"This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history."
Charles' memo was disclosed in an employment tribunal, which heard a secretary's claim of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal against the prince's office.
