LONDON, Nov 18: Britain’s Prince Charles took legal action on Friday against a tabloid newspaper that published extracts from his private journals. A spokesman for the heir to the throne said he had reluctantly decided on the move against publisher Associated Newspapers after extracts appeared in The Mail on Sunday.

Lawyers for Prince Charles went to the High Court on Friday to sue the publisher for breach of copyright and confidentiality.

Associated Newspapers has 14 days to respond.

The journal contained Charles’s views on the 1997 handover of the British colony of Hong Kong to China. He was said in one comment to describe Chinese diplomats as ‘appalling old waxworks’.

“This is a matter of principle,” said his principal private secretary Sir Michael Peat in a statement.

“Like anybody else, the Prince of Wales is entitled to write a private journal without extracts being published.

“This journal was copied and passed to the Mail on Sunday without permission. We made this clear to The Mail On Sunday on five occasions, both orally and in writing,” he added.

Members of the British royal family rarely take legal action.

But in Nov 2003, Queen Elizabeth launched a legal bid to prevent the Daily Mirror from publishing revelations by journalist Ryan Perry who had worked undercover as a footman at Buckingham Palace.—Reuters