I never much cared for Prince Charles. As an Australian (small "r") republican, he is the offspring of a Greek anti-semite and an in-bred German, who by dint of genetics is wealthy enough to not have a real job and famous for being himself. He decided he preferred a pruny hag over a young hottie as a lover and feels he is qualified to pontificate on whatever he likes because he's, you know, royal. But perhaps I need to alter my view. Turns out Prince Chuck has made a habit of sharing his "real" thoughts on various events with around 100 of his nearest and dearest. Just three days after President Hu visits the UK, lo and behold the Prince's thoughts on the Hong Kong handover ceremony are shared with the world:

In the journal, he described Chinese diplomats at a ceremony as "appalling old waxworks", the paper [Mail on Sunday] reported.

He also allegedly called a speech by then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin as propaganda, and slated the function as an "awful Soviet-style" performance. The newspaper reported that the Prince wrote: "After my speech, the President detached himself from the group of appalling old waxworks who accompanied him and took his place at the lectern. "He then gave a kind of "propaganda" speech which was loudly cheered by the bussed-in party faithful at the suitable moment in the text."

Prince Charles also talks of his flight arrangements for the handover ceremony. Initially, he was puzzled "as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable" before discovering he had been put in club class while political dignitaries had been seated in first class. "Such is the end of empire," he writes.

Rather bumpy landing at yet another colony of ours...my our ancestors got around a bit. Flew in over some shanty town called "Kowloon" and could see what the poor dears were eating for breakfast. It certainly didn't look like kippers and tea. Rather attractive stewardess on the flight, reminds me a bit of Camilla...

Got off the plane in the usual regalia and discovered that summer here is hot. And humid. It's a little squidgy in my underpants! Met some fat Englishman who tells me he's the Governor here, which is nice as he seems like a good Tory. No dobut he'll be back here one day flogging a book of his experiences while everyone remembers what a great chap he was, even though they all despise him now...

They've put me up at a rather nice place called Government House. Good old colonial place, but could do with a fishpond or two...

My, there are a lot of Chinese here...

It turns out I'm here to yet again witness another bit of the Empire dropping off and going its own way. Not a word of thanks for all the things we've done for them. This time they won't even join the Commonwealth. At least I got a tour of the nice new airport - plenty of British firms doing work there. Nice way to sneak a fair bit of cash I believe we had stashed here back to the Old Dart. That Patten chap isn't as dumb as he seems...

The handover ceremony was a miserable affair and such is my lot that I had to sit on stage, stay awake and smile. It's not easy. No wonder Mummy didn't want to come. The Chinese army came marching in - might need to get the troop at the Palace to come over and learn a few things...