LAWYERS for the Prince of Wales were yesterday forced to release a private journal that revealed the heir to the throne’s wide-ranging thoughts on Tony and Cherie Blair, the demise of the Royal Yacht Britannia, and an acerbic view of the Chinese President.

Mr Justice Blackburne ruled that extracts from the 3,000-word manuscript, which is at the centre of a privacy battle between the Prince and The Mail on Sunday should be published.

The newspaper’s lawyers had argued that the journal contained evidence of “clear political hostility”, which the public was entitled to read.

The judge’s decision will be seen as an embarrassing setback for the Prince, who had gone to court with the aim of preventing any further publication of his writings.

The journal, written by the Prince as he returned from the handover of Hong Kong to China in the summer of 1997, is scathing about Chinese leadership and both warm and critical of the Prime Minister.

He wrote that Mr Blair had spent only 14 hours in Hong Kong. “They then take decisions based on market research and focus groups, on the papers produced by political advisers and civil servants none of whom will have ever experienced what it is they are taking decisions about.”

The Hong Kong journal, one of eight obtained by the newspaper from a former employee of the Prince, was released to the press yesterday by the Prince’s lawyers. In bizarre scenes journalists were locked in a room in the High Court and given one hour to copy by hand sections from the document but were forbidden from reproducing it in its entirety.

The Prince is seeking a summary judgment — a ruling without a full trial — over his claim for breaches of confidentiality and copyright against The Mail on Sunday.

He also wants the journals returned.

The journal described how he landed in Hong Kong and was “delivered” to Britannia, which was on its last overseas engagement. He said that there was a “kind of exasperated sadness experienced by all and sundry” about the decision. “Why is this happening?”, he quoted as a comment from Madeleine Albright, then the US Secretary of State.

“The PM and Mrs Blair came on board for an hour and seemed suitably impressed after the whistlestop tour around the ship. If only he could have seen the yacht with the receptions and dinners under way and heard people’s reactions. But they are all in such a hurry, so never really learn about anything.”

But he is also complimentary about Mr Blair, who he said that he liked. “He is a most enjoyable person to talk to — perhaps partly due to his being younger than me. He also gives the impression of listening to what one says, which I find astonishing.”

The document, which he called The Handover of Hong Kong or The Great Chinese Takeaway, was written on the 14-hour flight back to Heathrow. The Prince said that on the outward journey his flight took off with representatives from Britain. He found himself in the unusual position of being “on the top deck in what is normally club class”. He added: “It took me some time to realise that this was not first class(!) although it puzzled me as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable.”

He then found that other dignitaries, including Sir Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister, Lord Hurd of Westwell, the former Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, the new Foreign Secretary, several former governors of Hong Kong and Paddy Ashdown, then the leader of the Liberal Democrats, were all “esconced in First Class immediately below us”. “Such is the end of Empire, I sighed to myself.” The Prince also referred to the Chinese President and “his cronies” at a post-handover dinner.

Prince Charles had tried to have the witness statement from Mark Bolland, his former deputy private secretary, heard behind closed doors but dropped the move. Mr Bolland levelled the damaging allegation that the Prince saw himself as a “dissident” against the political consensus of the day.

ON TRAVELLING CLUB CLASS

'It gook me some time to realise that this was not first class(!) although it puzzled me as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable'

ON TONY BLAIR

'They then take decisions based on market research and focus groups, on the papers produced by political advisers and civil servants none of whom will have ever experienced what it is they are taking decisions about'

ON CHINA'S ARMY

'[They may have] irresistable temptations to intimidate or threaten local people when the soldiers discover that a glass of beer costs about as much as their weekly salary'

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers