Prince Charles prefers Palace

The Prince of Wales added to the criticism of the Millennium Dome yesterday when he said Buckingham Palace offered a better day out.

The Prince of Wales added to the criticism of the Millennium Dome yesterday when he said Buckingham Palace offered a better day out.

Prince Charles has never visited the Dome and is known to be unenthusiastic about it. He has described it as a "monstrous blancmange" and a "crass waste of money".

He visited Buckingham Palace yesterday in his capacity as chairman of the trustees of the Royal Collection Trust.

The Prince called in to the guest shop and fell into conversation with some visitors. One, Ros Taylor, 76, from Southend, Essex, said later she had told him she thought the Palace was beautiful.

She said: "I said to him, 'You have made my day, it is so lovely to see you'. He said, 'It is better than going to the Dome'."

A visit to Buckingham Palace is less than half the cost of the Dome with a family ticket priced at £25.50 against the Dome's £57. A single adult ticket at the Dome is £20 compared with £10.50 at the Palace.

However the Dome has attracted 4.2 million people in the eight months it has been open, compared with the 2.25 million who have visited the Palace since it started opening during the summer in 1993.

Prince Charles' views echo those of his father, Prince Philip, who in July opened a maths centre at Cambridge University by saying, "This is a lot less expensive than the Dome. And I think it's going to be a great deal more useful."