'Why Charles is out of touch'

Prince Charles is out of touch with his future subjects because he does not read newspapers, watch the TV news or read letters to him from the public.

That is the claim made by his former deputy private secretary Mark Bolland, the man who rehabilitated Camilla Parker Bowles and so paved the way for next week's royal wedding.

Bolland told the Independent that Charles lives in a world of his own, cut off from the concerns of the public, and that even the Queen, despite her age, is more in touch with contemporary attitudes-He said: "One of the Prince of Wales's problems - and it's a problem that's unique to him in the royal family - is the extent to which he is remote from public opinion.

"He doesn't read the newspapers, he doesn't watch television news and he doesn't even really see letters that people write to him.

"I think it's a strange position when you have an heir to the throne who you feel is more out of touch than his mother, who is 20-odd years older." The PR expert, who now runs his own Clerkenwell-based firm, also accused the royal family of reverting to their previous policy of "do nothing, say nothing" by failing to be clear and open about the wedding plans and the future status of Camilla.

"It is indisputable that an invisible royal family dies," he said.