They Serve

A gentleman whose job is waiting for his mother to die must have hobbies, of course; and Mrs Windsor's eldest likes to write letters to Government ministers. The Government has overruled the judiciary to suppress publication of these letters: a freedom of information tribunal ruled that transparency would be "in the overall public interest", which is hardly the sort of language to use when persuading either New New Labour or the political wing of News Corporation. Publication, it seems, might cast doubt on the neutrality of the heir to the throne; non-publication, by contrast, ensures that the prince's reputation for dignified good sense remains about as intact as it ever was.