A senior politician thinks the public would support the decision to give the royal family access to Cabinet documents.
Prince Charles
Earlier this week, it emerged Prince Charles and his son, Prince William, have both been granted access to top-secret government records, but Bernard Jenkin - who chairs the cross-party public administration and constitutional affairs committee that scrutinises the Cabinet Office - has defended the decision.
He said the "vast majority" of people would agree the heir to the throne should have access to the papers.
He said, too, that it is "outrageous" to describe Prince Charles as a lobbyist.
Mr Jenkin said: "This is really a debate about the Prince of Wales' conduct, not what papers he sees."
By contrast, Graham Smith, the chief executive of the campaign group Republic, has lambasted the decision.
He said recently: "The disclosure of Cabinet papers to Prince Charles is quite extraordinary and completely unacceptable, not only because they would contain highly classified information but because it gives him considerable advantage in pressing his own agenda when lobbying ministers."
Mr Smith added: "Charles is essentially a minister not attending cabinet."
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