‘Carbuncle victory’ for Prince Charles?

A quarter of a century after Prince Charles made his "monstrous carbuncle" attack on contemporary architecture - he likened the effect of a modernist proposal for the National Gallery extension in central London to a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend" - could he be on the verge of wining a famous  victory on behalf of conservative design?

It emerged recently that the prince had stepped into a long-running row over the modernist design of a huge glass and steel complex of luxury flats on the site of Chelsea Barracks - right next to Christopher Wren's elegant Royal hospital. The designer is one of the prince's hate figures, Lord (Richard) Rogers, responsible for the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyd's Building in London, among many other eye-catching modern edifices.

Rogers's design for the Chelsea Barracks development was commissioned by Qatari Diar, the investment firm of the Qatari royal family, which together with the London-based developers Candy & Candy bought the site from the Ministry of Defence for almost £1bn.

With only weeks to go before Westminster council makes its planning decision, the prince has written to the Emir of Qatar urging him to instruct Qatari Diar to scrap the Rogers design and look instead at some ideas drawn up by the prince's favourite neo-classical architect, Quinlan Terry.

A source close to the development told the Sunday Times: "The prince has a lot of good ideas and we're more than happy to discuss how they might be built into the scheme."

While the architectural establishment is not impressed by the prince's backdoor methods - RIBA president Sunand Prasad said the royal intervention undermined the democratic process - there is no doubt that the prince has supporters in London. One of them is Robert Davis, Westminster's cabinet member for planning, who told the Sunday Times: "The Quinlan Terry design is superb... I'm hoping the Qataris give it careful consideration."

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