Prince Charles pays emotional tribute, rebukes BBC

4.15pm

LONDON - Prince Charles has paid an emotional and highly personal tribute to his "magical grandmother", praising the Queen Mother for her strength, grace, sense of duty and mischievous spirit.

For the heir to the throne, the death on Sunday (NZT) of the 101-year-old matriarch, as well as his personal mentor, was a major blow.

Wearing a dark blue suit and black tie, the 53-year-old Charles made a public television address during which he looked sad and shook his head frequently, and at one point appeared to struggle to keep his voice steady.

"For me she meant everything, and I had dreaded this moment...somehow I never thought it would come," he said.

"She seemed gloriously unstoppable. And ever since I was a child I adored her. She was quite simply the most magical grandmother you could possibly have and I was utterly devoted to her," Charles added from his Highgrove home.

He recalled her sense of humour and remembered her decades of service to the people.

"She understood the British character, and her heart belonged to this ancient old land and its equally indomitable and humorous inhabitants, whom she served with panache, style and unswerving dignity for very nearly 80 years."

But Charles rebuked the BBC over the "disrespectful" way it covered the death of the Queen Mother by choosing rival network ITN to film his tribute, newspapers reported today.

The royal family is unhappy BBC presenters failed to wear black ties when announcing the death of the 101-year-old royal on Sunday (NZT), The Times reported.

Charles, in consultation with his mother Queen Elizabeth, used the private commercial channel ITN to deliver his emotional address to the nation yesterday.

His choice of broadcaster was in protest at the failure of the BBC to rise to the historic occasion of his grandmother's death, The Times said.

All BBC presenters and reporters have been instructed by the corporation's management not to wear black until next Tuesday, the day of the funeral, the newspaper added.

Meanwhile, ITN and other national broadcasters told reporters to wear traditional mourning clothes straight away.

A senior royal official told The Times: "The fact Prince Charles, who discussed this with the queen, went to ITN for his tribute speaks for itself.

"The whole family is disappointed and hurt at the disrespectful tone and length of the coverage."

The Daily Mail said the royal family was dismayed at the way that veteran BBC newsreader Peter Sissons questioned Margaret Rhodes, the Queen Mother's niece who was with her when she died, about the royal's final minutes.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph broadsheet said in an editorial: "The BBC, by common consent, made a mess of things ... it misjudged the mood of the nation, speculating about the future of the monarchy within hours of the announcement of the Queen Mother's death."

Charles' tribute soon after his grandmother's death was similar to one he made to his aunt, Princess Margaret, who died aged 71 in early February. It appears to be part of a deliberate campaign to bring the royal family closer to its subjects.

The monarchy was lambasted in 1997 for maintaining a frosty silence after the death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash.

It took five days for the queen to make a broadcast in which she praised the woman who had split from her eldest son Charles in an acrimonious divorce.

Charles was skiing in Switzerland with his sons when the Queen Mother died, and returned home swiftly.

He had the sad task of breaking the news to princes William and Harry -- doubtless sparking memories of the day when he had to tell his sons their mother had been killed.

The Queen Mother gave Charles a lifetime of loyal support. She taught him to fish and gave him a taste for classical music.

He said her death would leave "an irreversible chasm in countless lives.

"But thank God we're all the richer for the sheer joy of her presence and everything she stood for."

- REUTERS and HERALD STAFF

Feature: The Queen Mother 1900-2002