Charles in new PR disaster for shaking hands with Mugabe

Prince Charles was last night embroiled in yet another public relations disaster, hours before his wedding, after he shook hands with the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe at the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Aides to the prince said that the heir to the throne had been "caught by surprise" when Mr Mugabe offered his hand during the ceremony in Rome attended by 200 world leaders and watched by a global television audience of 900 million.

The Zimbabwean leader, a practising Catholic who side-stepped a European Union travel ban to join dignitaries at the Vatican, appeared to take advantage of the congregation being asked to show the "sign of peace" by leaning over to offer the prince his hand.

But opponents of Mr Mugabe, whose ruling Zanu-PF party last week won elections condemned for vote-rigging and widespread intimidation, said the gesture left "blood on the hands" of the prince by appearing to accept the president as an equal.

Prior to the elections, Mr Mugabe was accused of deliberately starving opponents to his regime by withholding food hand-outs to supporters of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Paul Themba Nyati, spokesman for the MDC, told the Independent: "If Prince Charles thinks nothing of shaking hands with Mugabe, it is up to the prince to explain that kind of behaviour.

"But in so doing, Prince Charles has accepted a hand that is stained with the blood of Zimbabweans and he now has that blood on his own hands. Mugabe craves respectability and, despite what he says about British imperialism, he craves it most from the British royal family. Now he has it and can talk about how has shaken hands with Prince Charles rather than his four million starving people."

The politically charged clasping of hands on the eve of today's wedding between the prince and Camilla Parker Bowles in Windsor's Guildhall comes after a series of embarrassing hiccups in his progress to the register office.

After overcoming questions over the legality of the marriage, a snub from the Queen and unguarded comments about the media from the prince during a ski trip photocall, courtiers had been hoping to avoid any further controversy before the nuptials, which were postponed by 24 hours to allow the prince to travel to Rome.

Clarence House last night went out of its way to underline the prince's "abhorrence" of Mr Mugabe's regime.

The handshake took place towards the end of the funeral, apparently after the congregation had been asked to stand and show the "sign of peace" by shaking hands with fellow mourners. The Zimbabwean leader reached across his finance minister, Herbert Murerwa, a former high commissioner to London, who was seated to the left of the prince. Royal aides said Mr Mugabe then placed his right hand directly in front of that of the prince, obliging him to offer his own.

A spokesman said: "The Prince of Wales was caught by surprise and in a position to avoid shaking Mr Mugabe's hand. The prince finds the current Zimbabwean regime abhorrent."

Officials pointed out that the prince is a supporter of the Zimbabwean Defence and Aid Fund, which works with victims of the regime, and had recently met Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, a leading opposition member who this week described Mugabe as "shameless" for flouting the EU travel ban.

One royal source said: "There was nothing the prince could do. If somebody thrusts their hand into yours then you have no choice. Not shaking would have created more of a scene."

The Foreign Office said the seating arrangements which placed the prince within a single seat of Mr Mugabe, an avowed "victim" of what he describes as a British-led plot to destabilise Zimbabwe, had been made by the Vatican.

The incident has uncomfortable parallels with a row last September when the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, shook hands with Mr Mugabe at a United Nations summit in New York. The foreign secretary, who was accused by the Conservatives of a "scandalous betrayal" by appearing to offer support to the Zimbabwean regime, compounded his difficulties by saying it had been too dark to recognise Mr Mugabe. Footage shot by a news crew showed the room was well lit.

Neither of the two main political parties was last night prepared to comment on the latest incident. But Richard Corbett, a Labour Euro MP, said the prince had missed an opportunity to send a clear message about his feelings on Zimbabwe.

He said: "Prince Charles should have refused to shake his hand. In fact, this was a golden opportunity to deliberately and very visibly refuse to shake hands with this man. To fail to do so was, frankly, stupid."

- INDEPENDENT