Chinese Whispers

‘A FEW years ago, Prince Edward complained to an American audience that the British did not celebrate success.

‘Hmmm – Sunningdale or Wentworth tomorrow?’

It was a subject on which no-one was more qualified to comment than the actor-prince – his Ardent Productions company had just posted its fifth consecutive annual loss at the time.

Indeed, success was not something that Edward had much experience of, whether in his short career in the Royal Marines, as Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s tea-boy or as host of It’s A Royal Knockout.

But if the British are none too happy to be lectured about success by the man who put the Really Useless into Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useless Company, then they’re probably not going to take too kindly to being lectured about the virtues of hard work by his brother, Prince Andrew.

In an interview with the Press Association on the eve of a trip to China as a British trade envoy, the Mirror says the prince called on British workers to try harder.

‘The British are known as the Monday to Friday people in China,’ he said, adding that we should be ‘more engaged’ and ‘more involved in the long term’.

Of course, Prince Andrew is anything but a Monday to Friday person – his commitments take him onto the golf course at weekends as well.

And quite often he will be seen working late into the night, especially if the young filly he is with is proving a touch harder to crack than expected.

In the interview, Andrew also dismissed ideas that his job was ‘mind-numbingly boring’, saying: ‘It’s enthralling. I learn something new every day.’

Yesterday, for instance, he learnt how to hit a high fade with a one iron, the day before he learnt the Brazilian for ‘doggy style’…’

Posted: 20th, April 2004 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink