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BBC reporter Sarah Mukherjee got the rare chance to visit 'Home Farm' to interview HRH Prince Charles and writes about the experience:
In the cynical world of journalism, there are only a few words that excite the jaded editorial palates of news editors. You can guess most of them; “resignation”, “affair”, “natural disaster” (I hang my head in shame for my colleagues when I admit that “war” and “famine” don’t really do it any more – too many of them). Rarity and scale is the key (that might exclude the second one, come to think of it). But the one word that will always attract their attention is “exclusive”.
Now, of course, there are exclusives – and exclusives. There are the sort of exclusives that translate into “nobody else wants it, so I’ll try and flog it to you to get a few minutes of airtime” (that’s the one beloved of politicians). There’s the one that’s inextricably linked to someone’s book coming out. And then there’s a proper exclusive. Like hen’s teeth and leprechaun gold, a mythical thing – but all the more astonishing when it actually happens. An interview with the Prince of Wales is one. He doesn’t do them. Or at least, he didn’t.
A few months ago, I had the idea of putting together a series of reports on the changes to the European Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP – the way farmers are paid their subsidies. After long and laborious negotiations, there has been a radical shift away from giving money to farmers for food, towards giving them money to look after the countryside – and in Britain, this new system kicked in a few months ago. I’ve been a rural affairs reporter for ten years, and most of my long-established contacts told me this was radical but necessary change – and could alter the whole way the countryside looks.
Now, as a correspondent, you’re part expert, part salesman. Unless a programme editor commissions a piece – in other words, agrees to have it in the programme – it doesn’t get made. When I put this wizard CAP idea to most people, their eyes had glazed over before I got to the word “Policy”. Only Jamie Angus and Kevin Marsh on Today agreed it was a subject worthy of debate. They gave the reports good slots with strong guests off the back to comment.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap. I had had dealings with the Prince of Wales’ office over the years on various issues, occasionally putting the odd request in for an interview on food and farming (rather in the way you do the Lottery, with, as I thought, similar odds). After the CAP reports went out, I received a call from them. I thought at first it was someone in my own office, taking the mick, and very nearly put the ‘phone down. But I’m glad I didn’t as this was the first step in the negotiations the led to the interview.
The Prince’s officials were understandably nervous. Fingers had been burnt so many times – the journalist’s almost irrepressible desire to throw that last, curved ball question – that it seemed at first we would never reach agreement. I was helped inestimably by two long-term contacts in agricultural circles, who I believe provided character references as to my trustworthiness (all those buying drinks and talking about pig prices at livestock markets over the years did pay off, after all). But there were many, many conversations about editorial control, and the areas of questioning.
I did point out that if we were to do this, it would have to be a challenging interview (what about the miners? What about people on low incomes?) which the Palace readily agreed to. I think the Prince’s officials were as keen as I was that this shouldn’t be a “is there anything else you’d like to tell us, Sir?” style of interview. I was asked for a list of the sort of access I’d like. What the hell, I thought, and put together what I thought was an absurd wishlist – the Prince driving me around the farm, feeding the pigs, looking at the cattle, etc. Fine, they said.
We’d been talking seriously now since May, and got to a stage where we would fix a date. October seemed likely, before the Royal visit to the United States.
The week before was endless preparation. I got together a team of the people I wanted to work with most, and while Kevin Bishop, the senior producer, spent what seemed like days on the ‘phone finalising the contract details, Abi Simmons, the radio producer, and I rehearsed the interview and questions again and again – to the extent that at one point during the real thing I almost started giggling – Abi had become so adept at her role that her answers were in some cases word for word what the Prince himself said…
You can usually tell in the first few minutes how an interview is going to go. I had expected the Prince to be relaxed – he was, after all, on home ground – but the thing I had not for a moment expected was his humour. Whether brandishing large carrots as if they were guns or telling stories of a disastrous attempt to mate his pigs with his sister’s boar: I ended up roaring with genuine laughter – and trying not to end up sounding too sycophantic.
Was I too deferential? Some people thought I was, but I have never found the aggressive style of interviewing favoured by some colleagues to work. Looking back (and believe me, I’ve heard that interview many, many times now), I really don’t think I gave the Prince an easier – or harder – time than I would give anyone with a knowledge of the subject and with opinions to express.
A genuine exclusive? You bet. Will I get one like that again? You must be joking.
You can listen again to the FULL INTERVIEW and see the pictures.
Sarah
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