Charles taking private tuitions in Arabic

Doha: The Prince of Wales has long been fascinated by the culture and art of the Middle East and it has now been disclosed that he is learning Arabic.

The Prince modestly told guests at a reception in Qatar that the language “goes in one ear and out the other”, but an aide said that he has been having private tuition for more than six months. Understanding Arabic would enable the Prince, who is passionate about encouraging dialogue between different religions, to read the Quran in its original form. It would also mean that he could decipher Arabic script during visits to mosques and museums of Islamic art.

The Prince was in Doha for the launch of the Qatar-UK Alumni Network, for Qataris who have attended British universities. He told a group of guests: “You all speak such good English,” Dr Mohammad Bin Saleh Al Sada, the chairman of the association and Qatar’s energy minister, asked the Prince if he spoke any Arabic, and the Prince said: “I tried to learn it once but I gave up. It goes in one ear and out the other.”

Dr Al Sada told him it was “never too late to learn”. Later, one of the prince’s aides confirmed that he has been having lessons in Arabic recently, adding: “He is enormously interested in the region.” The Prince speaks good French, some German, and has also had lessons in Welsh.

Later, the Duchess met a group of Bedouin women who sell mobile phones in a project run by Vodafone.

- The Daily Telegraph