Prince wants a voice when he’s King

Jonathan Dimbleby (pictured), the writer and broadcaster, appears to have become a channel for the Prince of Wales's private thoughts and feelings. Writing in the Sunday Times, he dropped a fairly weighty piece of news as to how Charles proposes conducting himself when he succeeds to the throne, claiming that he wants a presidential-style monarchy that will allow him to "speak for the nation and to the nation".

Wrote Dimbleby: "There are now discreet moves afoot to redefine the future role of the sovereign so that it would allow King Charles III to speak out in ways that at the moment would be unthinkable."

The Queen, of course, only expresses her views to the prime minister and the Privy Council, always in private. But Dimbleby, who is said to have become a very close confidant of the Prince since writing his biography, said: "Those who believe that Britain needs an 'active' sovereign for the 21st century claim that it would be a waste of his experience and accumulated wisdom for it to be straitjacketed within the confines of an annual Christmas message or his weekly audience with the Prime Minister.

"This is not an issue that the Prince likes to discuss in such terms even with his most trusted intimates [excluding Dimbleby, one presumes], but he has latterly intimated to one or two of his confidants that he would like his present role to evolve so that once he inherits the crown, his knowledge and experience, his contacts and his unique ability to 'convene' others in the national interest could be put to good use rather than go to waste."