Charles: Texts are killing the proper sentence
PRINCE Charles issued an impassioned plea to save the well-written sentence yesterday, warning it was ‘under mortal threat’ in a world of texting and social media.
In a reference to Twitter, the royal derided the ‘140 characters or less culture’ – saying the ‘logical ordering of thoughts in proper, grammatically correct prose is in fact rather important at the end of the day’.
Charles, who was speaking at an event to mark 500 years of the postal service, is a keen letter writer whose missives to politicians have been dubbed ‘black spider’ memos after his distinctive handwriting.
The prince even jokingly alluded to his reputation as an obsessive scribbler, describing himself as someone who ‘relies on the wellaimed letter – and relishes the ones in return’. In his speech to long- serving Royal Mail workers and executives, he said: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps your greatest service is the way that Royal Mail, by its very existence, defends the written word.
‘In these days of texting and various social media apps, the well- constructed sentence is under mortal threat!
‘So on behalf of letter-writers; of isolated communities; of the eager and expectant on Valentine’s and other equally special days; and, indeed, on behalf of dear old Santa Claus himself, I can only offer my heartfelt thanks and warmest congratulations on a job conspicuously well done by you all.
‘You are, as they say, a national treasure.’ Clarence House also releasedhad writtena letterto the that Royalthe princeMail congratulating it on half a millennium of national service.
In the letter he appeared to drive home his point, writing: ‘If I may say so, your contribution to the well-being of our country goes far beyond enabling a level of contact which shrinks geographic distance between families and friends, and also brings together the business opportunities which have made Britain great.
‘In you, the written word itself has a staunch defender, reminding us that well-constructed and properly thought-through prose will always endure, whatever the vagaries of fashion.’
In a more light-hearted moment Charles proved that he was still a cool royal rider as he jumped on an antique motorbike, the only survivor from a fleet that was introduced in 1933 to deliver GPO telegrams.
The grinning prince threw his leg over the BSA B33 and even cheerfully bounced up and down as if testing its suspension.
According to Julian Stray, senior curator at the Postal Museum in London, his bike was part of a 50cc fleet made by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in the early 1930s.
Motorbikes were eventually phased out by the 1960s.
Charles has sought to influence public debate by writing his ‘black spider’ memos to ministers on matters that are close to his heart.
He was accused of meddling in Government policy through his prolific correspondence, expressing views on issues from the environment and farming to architecture and town planning.
Many Labour ministers under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were said to dread the arrival of one of the prince’s letters.
Charles’s interventions have proved controversial given that he will have to remain politically neutral when he takes the crown.
In a memo to Mr Blair in April 2001, the heir to the throne described himself as an ‘interfering busybody’ as he lobbied the then prime minister to vaccinate cattle during the foot-and-mouth crisis instead of culling animals.
Last year, 27 letters he sent to ministers between September 2004 and April 2005 were published after a decade-long legal battle over their release that went to the Supreme Court.
They included notes in which he protested to Mr Blair about ill-equipped British troops being deployed to Iraq, and expressed his views on homeopathic remedies, teaching practices and bovine TB.
‘Defender of the written word’