THE Prince of Wales will drop an attempt today to prevent confidential talks between his office and ministers from being made public in a potentially explosive court case.

The climbdown means that a witness statement by Mark Bolland, 39, one of the Prince’s most trusted advisers for seven years, can now be aired in the High Court as early as today.

The statement is said to contain details of conversations between the Prince’s private secretaries and ministers. The statement also details the organisation of the Prince’s private office and discussions about book projects.

The Prince’s decision over the attempt to have Mr Bolland’s evidence heard behind closed doors will be announced in the High Court today in the latest twist in the breach of confidentiality and copyright battle with The Mail on Sunday. The Prince issued proceedings after the newspaper published extracts from his private journals containing his acerbic views on the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese and his deep distrust of the Beijing regime.

In his witness statement Mr Bolland, who left the Royal Household in 2003, is also understood to have included passages saying that in 1999 he was instructed by the Prince to leak to the media his decision to boycott the Chinese state banquet in honour of the Queen. The Prince of Wales will challenge this assertion.

The move by Clarence House to have Mr Bolland’s witness statement discussed behind closed doors was challenged by lawyers acting for The Times, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, the BBC and ITN on the ground of public interest.

Clarence House said that the controversial decision to try to seek privacy for the Bolland statement had been taken because all staff past and present were bound by confidentiality agreements.

A spokesman said: “We intend to make an application to prevent certain other confidential information being disclosed during the court case. It is a matter of principle, not a question of gagging the press.”

The extracts from the Prince’s diary also revealed that he regarded Chinese government officials as “appalling old waxworks”. The Prince moved to stop further private remarks being made public. Mr Bolland has claimed that the Prince routinely sent his private thoughts to between 30 and 50 friends and associates.

There is also an order that any more details from the Hong Kong journal must remain confidential unless and until they enter the public domain by other sources.

The newspaper denies any breach of copyright or confidentiality, claiming that the journal had been widely distributed.

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