Prince Charles wrote a fan letter to TV chef Jamie Oliver.
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The 59-year-old royal was impressed by Jamie’s attempts to improve the diet of school children in his programme Jamie’s School Dinners and his desire to make people interested in what they are eating.
The prince told National Trust magazine: “Celebrity chefs have rekindled fascination with food and I congratulate them. Jamie Oliver’s brilliant campaign stands out.”
Jamie’s spokesman said: “He is as much a fan of His Royal Highness as HRH is of him.”
Meanwhile, the prince has said schools should have their own farms so children can learn where food comes from.
The royal made the comments while speaking to a crowd of 130 farmers’ wives and women farmers – who are members of the Women’s Food and Farming Union – who were meeting at his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire.
He said: “I have felt for a long time that we have missed a great trick in not understanding the vital importance of the school farm and garden because through allowing children to have that experience of growing something, harvesting it and then eating it can you hope to reconnect people to where food comes from.”
The prince spent around two hours chatting to the women, discussing issues such as the recent floods and bovine TB outbreak.
He said: “You know better than I do about the huge challenges and difficulties in farming in the last few weeks with the appalling weather conditions and I have nothing but the greatest sympathy.
“I can never get over how you all have this remarkable resilience in the way that you deal with these complexities.”
