Nick Clegg and his wife

Nick Clegg and his wife

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has defended Britain's Prince Charles' right to "express himself".

The leader of the Liberal Democrat party in England has spoken out about the Royal Family's right to make comments on political matters following reports that the Prince of Wales compared Russian president Vladimir Putin to the deceased German dictator Adolf Hitler during a visit to a Canadian war museum.

Clegg said: "I have never been of this view that if you are a member of the royal family somehow you have to enter into some Trappist vow of silence.

"I think he [Prince Charles] is entitled to his views."

Speaking to a volunteer at the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia - whose family fled to Canada from Germany during the persecution of Jews under Hitler's Nazi rule - Charles is reported to have said: "And now Putin is doing the same thing as Hitler."

And whilst Clegg believes that the 65-year-old Prince should be able to voice his own opinion, he's unsure as to whether the comments are genuine.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he added: "I don't know whether those were his views because I just don't think providing a running commentary on what were private conversations is useful to anybody."

Tagged in