Coming from a person who could well inherit the promotion of his life, the remarks may have come across as a royal fit of petulance.
A handwritten memo by Prince Charles that appeared to suggest irritation at people who try to rise above their station in life touched off a firestorm in this nation which has been debating whether to dismantle its last vestiges of feudal privilege.
"What's wrong with everyone nowadays?" the Prince of Wales huffed in the note to an undisclosed aide. "What is it that makes everyone seem to think that they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities? It's social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially re-engineered to contradict the lessons of history."
The memo was read out last week in labor court in the case of an assistant to Charles, who had complained to the prince about promotion prospects in the Royal Household and was later dismissed.
The British press immediately pounced on the remarks, and two government ministers -- including Education Minister Charles Clarke -- publicly upbraided the prince.
Since then, Charles has been forced into a situation no monarch would relish: explaining himself.
In a speech delivered Monday at a conference organized by the archbishop of Canterbury, the prince insisted that -- contrary to recent headlines -- he had not meant to imply that people should "know their place" and trim their ambitions to match their social rank.
"I believe passionately that everyone has a particular God-given ability ... Often all that is needed is the right help at the right time for them to make the most of it. Success can come in many forms. In my view it is just as great an achievement to be a plumber or a bricklayer as it is to be a lawyer or a doctor," the prince said.
Many got a different impression from the memo.
In it, Charles had railed against those who think they can become "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."
It was that section that probably drew the most attention in the media, coming from a man who would become head of state just by outliving his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. But Charles' seemingly elitist remarks drew some support from the public.
"I definitely agree with him," said Steve Trendell, who was taking a smoke break outside a central London office building. "I think too many people graduate from school thinking they can make it with no skills at all."
His co-worker, Bobbia Walker, nodded her assent.
"And just because it's unpopular doesn't make it any less true," she said.
But another Londoner, Sarah Todd, said "it was a pretty foolish thing to say."
"Kids should be encouraged to get the training they need, not told they have no chance of making it in the first place," Todd said.
Charles' memo became public last week at an employment tribunal where Elaine Day, who worked in his private office, claimed unfair dismissal.
She also claimed sexual harassment by the prince's assistant private secretary, Paul Kefford.
The prince wrote the memo in response to Day's suggestion that personal assistants with university degrees should be given the opportunity to train to become private secretaries -- a more senior position.
Some media reports appeared under headlines about the prince pronouncing on the importance of "knowing one's place," but Charles insisted that quoting him to that effect was "a travesty of the truth."
Charles did, however, defend his "old-fashioned" values in the speech.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was