He was criticised for taking private transport. Now the Prince of Wales has been criticised for his appearance on a commuter train thanks to the appearance of his official limousine following behind.
At 10.20am on Friday morning, the heir to the throne surprised onlookers when he and his aides, travelling on tickets costing £15.80, boarded the South West Trains service and entered First Class with other business travellers for the 25-minute journey from London's Waterloo to Woking in Surrey.
The Prince's engagement in Surrey primarily related to climate change, hence the decision to make such a public statement by travelling by commuter train.
According to one of the Prince's spokemen at Clarence House: "This is the first time he has been to an official engagement in the UK by public scheduled train.”
Unfortunately, the Prince's attempt to be seen to be green is dented by the revelation that his private limousine was following behind.
However, as a royal aide explained when quizzed on the presence of Charles's private limousine: "He had to have a car to take him on from Woking. You couldn’t get to the second engagement on a train and Whiteley is quite remote."
Personally I would like to see him ride in an ice cream van with the tunes playing.
Name: Lisa
Comment: Oh goodie- Thomas is lecturing us on being condescending and patronizing. Of all people!
Name: Thomas
Comment: Gad! How ignorant you all are about how royal engagements work....and hypocritical. Condescending and patronizing are other words that come to mind! Better stick to Diana.
Name: valerie wagstaffe
Comment: Whatever anyone says I think it was great for the Prince to ride on an ordinary train. I am sure he would have liked to continue the journey on a bus and no doubt he will do so in future. But of course the people who love to knock him would find fault with that. They would only be happy if he was forced to stand on a crowded one surrounded by his critics!
Name: Lisa
Comment: How does he think anyone else riding the same train as he manages to get to their next destination? They walk, take a bus or a cab. The cab at least would have already been in the same town, not driven in expressly for him! He could have at least offered his fellow commuters a ride so he could carpool. Honestly, would NO ONE in that town have given him a ride????
Name: Donovan
Comment: What a Hypocrite!!
Do they really think they will get away with the deceit, the lukewarm explanations, and the constant "mightier than thou" attitude?
Name: M-M
Comment: How absurd Charles is - if he had never drawn attention to his own carbon footprint , the long- suffering British would have accepted all his excesses as simply the lifestyle of an extravagant Prince of Wales . You want the Monarchy so you put up with it .
But now each travel arrangement of his is scrutinized because he has been so preachy about how the rest of the world should live . He wants us all to save the planet for him ! While he continues on as before , but simply calls it something else
Name: Trudie
Comment: Yet another CH public relations blunder how many more are going to backfire.
Name: Monika
Comment: I can sympathize with the dilemma of requiring connecting transportation, but then this was not the best day to be seen as living a "green" life. If the Prince didn't foresee the potential criticism, surely someone on his staff should have. Do they not realize it or are they afraid to disagree with him? I wonder... None of this would even be an issue, however, if the Prince didn’t preach from such a high pedestal.
Lisa
Whatever anyone says I think it was great for the Prince to ride on an ordinary train. I am sure he would have liked to continue the journey on a bus and no doubt he will do so in future. But of course the people who love to knock him would find fault with that. They would only be happy if he was forced to stand on a crowded one surrounded by his critics!
