Britain’s Prince Charles caused controversy on Wednesday after he reportedly compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler while on a trip to Canada.
Talking about Russia and the Ukraine to a Jewish woman who fled the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, the Prince was reported to have said: “And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler”.
The comments came just two weeks before the future king is due to meet Mr. Putin and other leaders at the 70th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France.
Marienne Ferguson, 78, born in what is now the Polish city of Gdansk, was introduced to the Prince during a visit to the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia, according to the Daily Mail .
The museum volunteer told him about how her immediate family managed to get permits to sail to Canada. But other family members failed to flee before the arrival of the German army, and were sent along with around 600 Jews from the city to be murdered in concentration camps, she said.
“I had finished showing him the exhibit and talked with him about my own family background and how I came to Canada. The Prince then said ’And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler’,” she said.
“I must say that I agree with him and am sure a lot of people do. I was very surprised that he made the comment as I know they [members of the royal family] aren’t meant to say these things but it was very heartfelt and honest.”
“If Prince Charles wants to make controversial statements on national or international issues, he should abdicate and stand for election,” tweeted lawmaker Mike Gapes, a member of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg defended the Prince, telling BBC television he should be “free to express himself”.
A spokesman for the Prince said: “We do not comment on private conversations. But we would like to stress that the Prince of Wales would not seek to make a public political statement during a private conversation.”
