Rogers goes on offensive against Prince Charles

Lord Rogers has launched an unprecedented attack on Prince Charles following the scrapping of his firm's plan for Chelsea Barracks, warning of a “dangerous political clash” if his powers were not examined.

In an interview with the BBC, the architect said Charles' intervention was a “dangerous precedent” and broke the “constitutional understanding” between the monarchy and the people.

He said: “I think that anyone who uses his power due to birth [like this] breaks a constitutional understanding - it's not a law, it's a constitutional understanding - and a trust we have within our society about the role of people who have received power in that manner... If we are to avoid a dangerous political clash then we need someone to solve the problem at a level which is not about this site, but at the level of royalty and their say in political matters.”

Rogers, who sits in the House of Lords, called for a committee of constitutional experts to be set up to examine the Prince's ability to change the political direction.

He added: “Are we going to have royalty dictating to us modern art? Are we going to have royalty dictating their taste in music? Are we going to have royalty dictating their belief in medicine, modern or not? No, because they're not experts in any of those fields, but more important still it's not constitutional to enter into those areas which are political, where they're protected and where we're not protected.”

Proposals designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for the Chelsea Barracks site were withdrawn by developer Qatari Diar last week following a reported complaint by the Prince to the Qatari royal family on the designs' appropriateness for the area.

Clarence House declined to respond to Lord Rogers' comments.