LONDON: Prince Charles, who welcomed George Bush to Britain on Tuesday, has not been to the United States for the last six years on the advice of the British Foreign Office, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

It was learnt that the Prince of Wales has strong pro-Palestinian views and is privately critical of US policy in the Middle East conflict.

British diplomats, acting in conjunction with Downing Street, fear that Prince Charles’s views might have created embarrassment on a visit to Washington.

The source, who is familiar with the discussions over possible visits by the Prince of Wales to the US, said: “It (concern over Charles travelling to the US) revolves around the perception that the Prince of Wales is fairly Arabist. He has, in American terms and international terms, fairly dodgy views on Israel.

“He thinks American policy on the Middle East is complete madness and he used to express that quite loudly to a lot of people, including ministers and various ambassadors.”

The source added: “The system basically thinks that he is unsound on America and he has not really wanted to go anyway. He doesn’t much like American culture.”

Clarence House confirmed on Tuesday that the prince had made four trips to the US between 1993 and 1997 but none since. The Palestinian issue has become especially sensitive since Sept 2000 when the latest intifada began.

The Foreign Office advises on any formal trips Prince Charles makes abroad.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said that the Queen and Prince Philip had made many visits to the US during her reign, and that royals such as the Duke of York were regular visitors across the Atlantic.

A press spokeswoman at Clarence House said all official visits abroad by Prince Charles were after advice from the Foreign Office and decisions “would have been made for reasons that were pertinent at the time”.

Prince Charles visited Washington in 1993 and Los Angeles the following year, for two or three days. In 1996, he visited the North Carolina architecture summer school and had an engagement in Rhode Island on behalf of the Marie Rose Trust. His last trip was to New York the following year, according to Clarence House. All these trips were relatively trivial, the last only for a day, and involved fund-raising.

The source said part of the reason Prince Charles was reluctant to visit the US was because Princess Diana had been so popular there. But his pro-Palestinian sympathies are the predominant reason.

The prince’s advisers favoured him going to the US. But there was strong resistance from senior diplomats in London, at the embassy in Washington and at the New York consulate.

Among the diplomats said to have opposed a trip were Sir John Kerr, then permanent under-secretary — the most senior diplomat — in the Foreign Office, now retired, and his colleague, Peter Westmacott. The then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, was said to have had discussions with Prince Charles about the Middle East.

The prince’s views would have clashed with both presidents during this period. President Bill Clinton, who was in power between 1992 and 2000, maintained the US’s strong support for Israel. Mr Bush, though the first US president to support in public the creation of a Palestinian state, has never invited the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, to the White House or shown much sympathy for the Palestinians.

A British diplomat in a position to know said he had heard rumours of Prince Charles’s pro-Palestinian leanings but nothing official.

Prince Charles’s role the other day was only to welcome the Bushes.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.