A Proper Charlie!

Mr Camilla, or Prince Charles, he of the greying heir, seems to be putting his foot into everything this week. A couple of days ago, he quit as patron of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings after it axed a foreword he had written for a book on restoring old houses.

He is understood to have resigned after officials voiced concern about his 'intransigent' attitude to restoration.

The society was founded by the socialist architect and designer William Morris in 1877. Despite its title, it also believes in using the best of modern design in traditional restoration projects and includes a chapter in its book, Old House Handbook, explaining this.

It had been hoped that Charles, who took over as figurehead for the organisation following the death of the Queen Mother in 2003, would write a supportive foreword to the book, a guide for those who are repairing old buildings. But the prince is understood to have particularly objected to the suggestion that restoring old houses in their original style often results in a 'pastiche' – an unflattering hotchpotch of materials and forms taken from different sources –and took pains to say as much.

When society officials asked his office whether the offending paragraphs could be taken out, the answer came back that it was all or nothing .As a result, the charity decided to write its own foreword. Charles felt he was being unfairly censored and resigned in an apparent huff.

To help him get over this fit of pique presumably, he sat down last night to a meal given by the Marine Stewardship Council at Clarence House. In a speech to fish industry representatives, he said science had shown the world was facing a “nightmare collapse in stocks” without action.

But trawlermen’s leaders said the heir to the throne’s comments were “unhelpful and outdated”.

He was accused of ignoring the Scottish fleet’s efforts to conserve stocks – and was urged to listen to fishermen rather than scientists. told guests: “The science tells us very clearly that if we continue to fish without any care for the long-term sustainability of fish stocks, we will soon face a nightmare collapse in stocks and inevitable starvation amongst the world’s poorest people. So I think the debate about the marine environment is rather like that which surrounded climate change in the 1980s. Back then, climate change was something about which a few people were trying very hard to make their voices heard, occasionally myself, but nobody wanted to listen.”

He added: “Over the years, I’ve tried to make speeches and hold seminars and those things about the fishing problem, but again it has been very difficult to get the attention of all sorts of people, agencies, organisers and the consumer – the subject was quite literally out of sight and out of mind.”

Later on last night, John Buchan, skipper of the Peterhead-registered Fairline, who spearheaded a campaign to save Scotland’s fleet eight years ago, said: “Prince Charles is clearly out of date as far as Scotland is concerned. Our six main stocks are now in a very healthy state, or are getting that way very quickly. When it comes to talking about conservation, Prince Charles needs to hear from the Scottish fishermen.”

Methinks he is only worried about the preservation of the sturgeon, and the resulting black caviar. I read somewhere last week that turtles can breathe through their butts, but I reckon some people can as well.