Charles the soccer ace

To many, Prince Charles seems interested only in the elitist sport for the wealthy, polo.

But today in Australia a former schoolfriend revealed the Prince wasn't a bad right-half at soccer.

After meeting the Prince on the first full day of his Australian royal tour, former Gordonstoun schoolboy Eric Atkinson, now a harbourmaster at Corkhill Landing, Fremantle, told of Charles's football skills.

Mr Atkinson, who was at school for a year with Charles in the Sixties, said: "The boys set up a soccer competition against the teachers when we were both at school.

Charles played right-half and I played right-back. He played very well."

Mr Atkinson couldn't remember the result of the match that took place on the village green in Scotland, but added: "That didn't really matter."

Earlier Charles spoke of his "happiness" at being back in Australia.

At the Royal Perth Hospital, where he met victims of the tsunami and the 2002 Bali bombings, Charles said: "I cannot tell you what a pleasure it is to be back in Australia. With so many happy recollections of previous visits to the city it really hardly feels as though I've been away at

all." With a possible reference to his recent troubles, including the furore over his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, he added: "And yet I fear that 11 years have passed by and look what's happened to me in the interim."

Looking relaxed in a double-breasted grey suit with an Order of Australia pin in the lapel, Charles said the hospital reflected Australian characteristics "of excellence in public service, generosity of spirit, optimism and gritty determination".

The Prince was accompanied by Australian of the Year Dr Fiona Wood, a surgeon and mother of six who has pioneered spray-on skin for burns victims. He also met an amateur Australian Rules footballer, Phil Britten, who was in Bali when seven of his team-mates were killed by the blast.

Charles sympathised with Mr Britten over his loss, saying that one of the worst aspects of disasters-such as the Bali bombs and the tsunami was the impact on the economy and tourism.

The Prince arrived in Australia amid speculation that another pair of royals have "hijacked" the affection of the public.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and his Australian-born wife, Princess Mary, are on their first Australian tour since they married last May. Mary Donaldson, born in Tasmania, met the heir to the Danish throne in a bar in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics.

One Australian paper wrote: "Attractive, young and personable, the Danish royal couple enjoy - for now at least - more celebrity power than our likely next head of state." A leader in the Australian newspaper today says: "Once upon a time there was a mystique about the British royals.

"Now, partly as a result of their own philanderings and broken marriages and partly as a result of the Diana effect they have been relegated to celebrity-land, fodder for the gossip pages alongside film stars and the like," the paper said. "It is instructive that the public gaze seems more fixed on Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary."

Although it was unusual for two royal tours to coincide, sources at Clarence House insisted there was no clash.