US officials have long feared he could embarrass Washington. But it was the Prince who formally welcomed US President George W. Bush when he arrived on a state visit to Britain yesterday. A source familiar with discussions over possible visits by the Prince to the US said there was concern over the perception that Prince Charles "is fairly Arabist".

"He has, in American terms and international terms, fairly dodgy views on Israel," the source said.

"He thinks American policy on the Middle East is complete madness and he used to express that quite loudly to a lot of people, including ministers and various ambassadors."

The source added: "The system basically thinks that he is unsound on America and he has not really wanted to go anyway. He doesn't much like American culture." Source.

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