Charles' brush with 'argumentative tree'

Prince Charles has blamed an "argumentative" tree for temporarily depriving him of the use of his left eye.

Sporting a medical - and disappointingly un-rakish - eyepatch, the prince was at the Victoria and Albert Museum last night to open its £31 million British Galleries.

He was forced to cancel a visit to the RSC in Stratford earlier in the week, after a Sunday gardening expedition to cut the branch of a tree on his Highgrove estate left him with sawdust in the eye, forcing him to seek hospital treatment.

However, last night Charles returned to duty undaunted. He said: "I must apologise for appearing before you this evening looking like someone who has been discharged prematurely from hospital.

"I just wanted to explain that during a long career of talking to trees you inevitably come across the odd argumentative one, an angry Arbutus or a cantankerous Quercus."

Earlier the prince and 1,000 guests were treated to a new fanfare specially composed by Michael Nyman for the event, and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion read his new work - contemplating four of the exhibits.

The 15 refurbished British Galleries occupy two floors on the museum's south-west wing and house more than 3,000 pieces of British decorative arts spanning the period 1500 to 1900.