Bruce Anderson: In praise of a Renaissance Prince

Tomorrow marks the 60th birthday of much the most important British public intellectual of the present day. We British have never been at ease with intellectuals. They are usually treated with a mixture of awe and derision. Intellectualism is often combined with Wigan Pier and mothers-in-law to form the staple of stock comedy. Yet there usually are a few characters such as Freddie Ayer, Isaiah Berlin, Bertrand Russell or AJP Taylor. In France, they would be revered. In England, they are at least respected.

The man who turns 60 tomorrow has not always found it easy to command respect. Then again, it is hardly uncommon for intellectuals to have complicated private lives. But Prince Charles's claim to the status of a unique eminence in public intellectuality is irrefutable. Consider the criteria. Our universities are full of learned academics, who become Fellows of the Royal Society or the British Academy, some of whom win Nobel prizes. But the public intellectual must go further. It is not enough to be learned in one discipline; he must be able to cover the waterfront.

Prince Charles does that like no one else today. He pronounces on faith and on science: on the Bible, the prayer book, Shakespeare and architecture. He has led the debate on the countryside, on agriculture, on genetically-modified foods and on climate change. Nor is he just a theoretician. The village of Poundbury in Dorset embodies his architectural principles in order to create a decent environment for families to live in, with buildings which are pleasant to look at – which neither brutalise their inhabitants nor repel the eye. It seems incontestable that Charles is a much greater and infinitely more beneficent architect than le Corbusier.

The Prince's Trust has helped tens of thousands of inner-city youngsters to recover from an appalling upbringing and a wretched education, giving them confidence and a new start. In so doing, it has enriched lives and reduced crime. It could claim to be the most successful welfare organisation in history.

So this is a man who tries to put his ideas into practice. But he also stretches for the bigger context, the wider horizon. Most of us have come to dread the word "holistic". Its usage is generally accompanied by mental disintegration. For holistic, read hippy-istic. Not with Prince Charles. He wants to make sense of the human condition; to promote dialogues between town and country, science and religion, Christianity and Islam. The Prince believes in hard thinking. As those who work for him will testify, he is never satisfied with the easy answers. "Public intellectual" is a modern way of saying Renaissance man. Charles fits that description. He paints more than competent watercolours. He is a cellist (no easy instrument). Even though outclassed by his sister, Anne, he is an accomplished horseman and an outstanding devotee of the noblest of sports: deer-stalking. He is a man of insatiable intellectual curiosity who is incapable of intellectual complacency. He is entitled to make a claim which the rest of us lesser beings should envy: nil humanum a me alienum.

Someone with such a range of interests always runs a risk: dilettantism, and anyone called Your Royal Highness will find that charge hard to rebut. In Prince Charles's case, it is utterly unfounded. Most of us are competent to assess his pronouncements on architecture, the Bible and Shakespeare. I defy anyone to read him on those subjects without acknowledging intellectual and moral depth. Science is another matter, so I consulted a friend who is an eminent scientist and who has had sessions with the Prince of Wales. The verdict was unequivocal: "He knows his stuff; he does his prep. If he takes an interest in something, he works away until he understands it. This is someone to take seriously".

In Britain, that can be a problem. A lot of us Brits do not do serious. Consummate ironists, we often say the opposite of what we mean, approaching grave topics with a laconic, self-deprecating idiom. Prince Charles is no ironist. For him, intellectual activity means the fascination of what is difficult. He is, of course, a descendant of Prince Albert, another prince who had no command of irony and was always serious. Queen Victoria's consort baffled many of his contemporaries, especially among the upper classes. He would insist on asking awkward questions, and would not rest until they were answered. His great-great-great grandson brings much of the same charming, good-mannered but implacably German thoroughness to our contemporary debates.

It is much needed. A couple of years ago, some malcontented political adviser tried to make trouble for the Prince of Wales, by revealing that he often wrote long letters to government ministers. Courtesy demanded a detailed reply, Some ministers, still tainted by adolescent republicanism, resented this demand on their time. The rest of us should welcome it. Anything which forces politicians to look beyond the briefing clichés and make their unused brain cells do some thinking can only improve the quality of government.

Nor is there any evidence of political bias, for it is impossible to classify Charles's political views. "Small c" conservative? No, he is far too restless and radical – and there is nothing small about this man's mind. Old-fashioned Tories would applaud his opinions on the Bible, the countryside, buildings and literature. But they might be uneasy about his desire to reach out to Muslims. Many modern Tories would not share his dislike of GM crops, and would wish to take a more sceptical approach to climate change. If they could outgrow class prejudice, those on the left should applaud the Prince's Trust, and Charles's commitment to enhancing the quality of life.

The Prince is a Christian, who respects all other faiths. He is a patriot, who would never be satisfied with "my country right or wrong". He believes his country must do its uttermost to ensure it is not in the wrong. He is a gentleman, who believes that no one is worthy of that name who has failed to do some service to mankind. "Ich dien" is the motto of the Princes of Wales. It means "I serve". This Prince has spent his adult lifetime living up to that injunction. We should salute him and his efforts, while wishing him a joyous day and many happy returns. God bless the Prince of Wales.

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