So PC she frightens me rigid, said Charles memo

Prince Charles described a secretary complaining of sexual discrimination as "so PC she frightens me rigid".

His remark was made in a memo to a senior royal aide after secretary Elaine Day wrote to him.

She had suggested that personal assistants who are university graduates should one day be able to rise through the ranks to top jobs in the royal household.

But a tribunal today heard that Prince Charles reacted dismissively. He wrote: "What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their capabilities. This is all to do with the learning culture in the schools. It is a consequence of the child-centred education." Charles added: "It tells people they can become pop stars, High Court judges, or brilliant TV presenters, or more competent heads of state without putting in the necessary works or having natural ability.

"It is the result of social utopianism, a belief that humanity can be genetically engineered to contradict the lessons of history. What am I to tell Elaine? She's so PC it frightens me rigid."

The Prince's remarks were read out at the tribunal where Miss Day is alleging sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Miss Day told the tribunal that she had asked for a meeting with Prince Charles's most senior adviser, his private secretary Sir Michael Peat. During the meeting, Miss Day told Sir Michael that she had been " inappropriately touched" by her immediate boss Paul Kefford. The tribunal heard that his reaction was: "But I thought he was gay."

She said she replied: "I didn't know if he was gay or bisexual but he clearly had problems."

Charles's aides are concerned at the potential for damage to his reputation in the case which comes in the wake of the devastating report into life at St James's Palace last year.

That internal inquiry, ordered by Charles, exposed a culture of threats, self-interest and mismanagement and delivered a humiliating assessment of the Prince's judgment.

The investigation looked at the collapse of the Paul Burrell trial, claims of a cover-up over an alleged gay rape and how servants sold gifts given to members of the royal family. It led to the departure of Michael Fawcett, Charles's most trusted aide.