His niece may be looking to attain Olympic gold later this year, but Prince Charles for one won’t be in the stadium to see Zara Phillips parading with the British team at the opening ceremony.

The future king who reputedly dubbed himself a "dissident" prince has informed the Free Tibet group that he won’t attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.

Officials from the group, which campaigns against human rights abuses in Beijing, wrote to Charles to alert him to a situation to which he is already highly aware.