Britain’s Prince Charles is taking Arabic lessons.
The 64-year-old royal confided in guests at the launch of the Qatar-UK Alumni Network in Doha yesterday (13.03.13) that he had previously undertaken tuition and struggled to get to grips with the language, but an aide later admitted he has been taking lessons for over six months.
Dr Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, chairman of the association and Qatar’s energy minister, asked Charles if he spoke any Arabic, to which the prince replied: ”I tried to learn it once but I gave up. It goes in one ear and out the other.”
Dr Al-Sada told him: ”It’s never too late to learn.”
However, one of prince’s aides later confirmed he has been having lessons in Arabic recently, adding: ”He is enormously interested in the region.”
Charles – who speaks good French, some German and has had Welsh lessons – is fascinated by the culture and art of the Middle East, and learning the language would mean he could decipher Arabic script during visits to mosques and museums of Islamic art.
Following the reception, Charles – who is on a three-day tour of the region with wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall – had a private meeting with Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the second wife and official consort of the Emir of Qatar.
She is the head of the Qatar Foundation, which works to improve education, science and community development in the country.