Prince Charles's Hitler remark is unacceptable, outrageous and low, says Russia

Future king’s comments don’t reflect well on him, says Moscow
Putin: was compared to Hitler by Prince Charles
AFP/Getty Images

Russia unleashed an unprecedented attack on Prince Charles today accusing him of “unacceptable, outrageous and low” behaviour by comparing Vladimir Putin to Hitler.

Moscow hit out angrily at the Prince of Wales stressing his comments, if reported correctly, “do not reflect well” on the future King.

Russia even accused the heir to the throne of being part of a western “propaganda campaign” over the Ukraine crisis.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and its embassy in London condemned the Prince as its deputy ambassador to Britain, Alexander Kramarenko, was due to meet a senior Foreign Office official this afternoon to demand “official clarification” of the alleged remark.

Charles’s comment came during a tour of the Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he and the Duchess of Cornwall paid tribute to Second World War veterans and their families.

After Jewish museum volunteer Marienne Ferguson, 78, told the Prince how she and her family fled the Nazis during the war, he reportedly responded: “Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler.”

Britain has strongly criticised Moscow over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin did not initially respond to the furore over what Prince Charles had said.

But Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said today: “If these words were truly spoken, then without doubt, they do not reflect well on the future British monarch.

“We view the use of the Western press by members of the British Royal Family to spread the propaganda campaign against Russia on a pressing issue - that is, the situation in Ukraine - as unacceptable, outrageous and low.”

The statement from the Russian embassy in London left in no doubt that its diplomats believe Charles did make the allegation against Mr Putin.

Ahead of the meeting at the Foreign Office, it said: “The outrageous remarks made by Prince Charles in Canada will be among the questions raised. The Embassy asked the FCO for official clarifications on that yesterday.”

Clarence House has refused to confirm or deny whether the Prince made the remarks, stressing it was a private conversation.

It declined to respond to the Russian statements.

The Foreign Office was expected to refuse at the meeting to be drawn into commenting on what the Prince allegedly said about the Russian president.

The senior official was likely to stress that the reported words were from a private conversation and had not been confirmed as accurate by Clarence House.

If pressed on whether the comment represented the Government’s official position, the mandarin was set to decline to be drawn into discussing this “hypothetical”.

Instead, the Foreign Office was intending to use the meeting to again repeat Britain’s condemnation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday backed the Prince’s right to speak freely about world issues but declined to comment on the Putin allegation.

David Cameron said people were entitled to their private views, but added: “I am not going to comment on someone’s private conversation, least of all Prince Charles.”

No10 and the Foreign Office refused to be drawn into the row.

But it has reignited the debate about whether the Prince should express his views on global controversies.

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