The not-so divine rights of a king-to-be

In what was clearly a slow news day yesterday, the Guardian chose to lead with...

Charles faces fresh meddling claim over letters to ministers

It continued...

Prince Charles was last night facing fresh accusations of meddling in government policy after it emerged that he had written directly to ministers in eight Whitehall departments over the last three years.

The Guardian is a staunch advocate of human rights, democracy and freedom of expression, so it's curious that it views a citizen engaging in their demcratic right to petition the government as "meddling".

Of course, the paper's bugbear is that Charles, as heir to the throne, should be above politics. That's all well and good, but the Guardian is an unashamedly republican newspaper. It espouses equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all and opposes hereditary privilege. Surely they should celebrate Charles exercising his rights?

Unfortunately it seems that they're more interested in the nouveau class warfare of our times, rather than genuinely standing by their principles.