Charles told accused bishop: ‘I’ll see off this horrid man’
THE Prince of Wales has told the child abuse inquiry he could not “shed any light” on who he was referring to in a letter to disgraced bishop Peter Ball when he wrote: “I will see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.”
Ball had told the Prince a single accuser was behind allegations which led to him having to quit as Bishop of Gloucester.
In a letter to the inquiry, the Prince said Ball had told him the complaint against him was false and had arisen from someone who had a grudge against him and was “persecuting” him.
In extracts from one letter between the Prince and Ball, Charles says: “I can’t bear it that the frightful and terrifying man is on the loose and doing his worst.”
But in his letter to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) yesterday, the Prince, who said he regrets having been “deceived” by Ball, said: “I regret that I am unable to shed any light on references made in a letter dated 23rd March 1997 to a ‘horrid man’ or a ‘frightful and terrifying man.’
“This seems to be a manner of speaking in the midst of a long letter written more than 20 years ago.
“I do recall that Peter Ball felt that numerous individuals were doing all in their power to disadvantage him unfairly. I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the reference is to this issue in some way.”
Charles maintained a friendship with Ball for more than two decades after Ball accepted a caution for gross indecency, only stopping contact when Ball was convicted in 2015 of sexually abusing 18 young men over 30 years.
The Prince says he did not know about the nature of the complaint against Ball and had not appreciated the meaning of a caution.
A lawyer for some of the former bishop’s victims has said it was difficult to see that “as anything other than wilful blindness”.
In another letter from the Prince to Ball in 1995 – two years after Ball’s caution – the future king said he wished he could “do more”.
He said: “I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated.”
Charles also said he had been told by the then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey that the Church was looking at bringing Ball back into public ministry. In the 1995 letter he said it was “appalling” that the Archbishop, now Lord Carey, had “gone back on what he told me”.
He said it was clear the Archbishop was “frightened of the press – what he calls ‘public perception’.”
Another letter from Charles the following year referred to the process of getting a Duchy of Cornwall property for Ball and his brother, Michael, Bishop of Truro.
The pair rented a Duchy property between 1997-2011.
Charles’ letter to the inquiry said: “My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage.
“It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities.”