Aloof? Dancing with Prince Charles better than sex, says Emma Thompson

 
Britain's Prince Charles dances with Lisa Shannon during a rock 'n' roll dance display in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012.
AP Photo/SNPA, Ross Setford
24 October 2013

Dancing with Prince Charles is “better than sex”, actress Emma Thompson has claimed. She joked: “There’s a long history of relationships between Princes of Wales and actors — not just actresses, not just the rude relationships as [Charles] would say, though God knows I’ve tried. He wasn’t having any of it.”

The comments by Thompson, 54 — who stars with Tom Hanks in the new film Saving Mr Banks, about the making of Mary Poppins — are reported in a Time magazine cover article by the writer Catherine Mayer.

EMMA THOMPSON AND PRINCE CHARLES AT "MAYBE BABY" PREMIERE AT LEICESTER SQUARE,LONDON JOELY RICHARDSON AND PRINCE CHARLES AT "MAYBE BABY" PREMIERE AT LEICESTER SQUARE,LONDON
Rex Features

Mayer, who spent months following Charles, says he has been plagued by the perception that he is aloof, spoilt and desperate to become king.

But her piece, The Forgotten Prince, concludes that he is a passionate philanthropist who is committed to making the most of his inherited position.

Charles tells Time: “I’ve had this extraordinary feeling, for years and years, ever since I can remember really, of wanting to heal and make things better… I feel more than anything else it’s my duty to worry about everybody and their lives in this country, to try to find a way of improving things if I possibly can.”

Mayer says Charles, 64, is aware that once he becomes king he will have to spend less time with many of his charities and projects.

The writer visited the Prince’s homes in England, Scotland and Wales for the piece and interviewed more than 50 of his friends and associates.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, ROYAL VISIT POOL PIC. PRINCE OF WALES, PRINCE CHARLES TRIES LATIN DANCING WITH A TANGO. LOVELY ADRIANA VASILE, 33, PART OF THE PROFESSIONAL DANCE GROUP ENTERTAINING AT THE STATE BANQUET IN HIS HONOUR SEEMED TO ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE AS MUCH AS THE PRINCE.... . REXMAILPIX.
Daily Mail

Charles says of his charity, the Prince’s Trust, which helps people develop businesses and careers: “A few people are lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do. But there’s a hell of a lot of others who don’t really know and may not be obviously academic, who suffer from low self-esteem.”

Mayer also spoke with a former Cabinet minister who praised the Prince’s expertise. The minister tells Time: “Those who don’t like the contents of his views allege constitutional impropriety as a way of undermining the views he holds… I took him seriously, and he took me seriously.”

And James Sommerville, who co-founded design agency Attik in 1986 with a £2,000 Princes Trust Loan, claims: “If Prince Charles was in industry he would be a Richard Branson or the late Steve Jobs.”

The Duchess of Cornwall today became Patron of The Poppy Factory in Richmond, which she was visiting to see the work done by the charity for disabled ex-Services personnel and their dependants.

She met the charity’s president, Sara Jones CBE DL, chairman Mark Perowne and chief executive Melanie Waters as well as veterans who have been helped to find meaningful and sustainable civilian employment. The Poppy Factory’s employees produce poppies, wreaths and crosses by hand.

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