Prince Charles' letter on Chelsea Barracks plan was ignorant, says top architect

A leading British architect today rounded on Prince Charles over his involvement in the scrapped £3 billion Chelsea Barracks project.

Jack Pringle, former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said the Prince's interference was "completely unacceptable". Plans for Britain's most expensive housing development were scrapped last year after Charles wrote to site owner Qatari Diar opposing them

Mr Pringle said that the Prince's letter, which criticised modernist architect Richard Rogers, was "ignorant".

He said: "Charles's letter describes the scheme as brutalist but Richard Rogers is not a brutalist architect by a long chalk. The comment is unfair, ignorant and historically inaccurate.

"I think it is outrageous that he is interfering in this way. The Prince's interpretation of his role in a constitutional monarchy is completely unacceptable."

In the Prince's letter, he says that "quite frankly my heart sank" when he saw the plans for Chelsea Barracks by Lord Rogers.

A court case between Qatari Diar and the Candy Brothers, its former partners on the scheme, is likely to start in May. The Candys are suing the rulers of Qatar over the collapse of the plans.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: "We consider this letter to be private. We have repeatedly said that the Prince of Wales, like anybody else, has the right to express his opinions."