Well, the Royal Family may not have any real "power" but they have the public eye and everything they do pretty much catches attention.  Prince Charles is an avid environmentalist, so that, I have to respect.

Tintexas - I thought Elvis was the King?  ;)

Don't be fooled by his enviro credentials, he's not so resourceful with his staff - even has someone who puts toothpaste on his toothbrush ... has only just started paying taxes and then at a reduced rate because of his "charity" status ... and yes the Royals love to shoot and hunt things ... Vive la revolution ...

in my humble english opinion, prince charles generally comes across as a bit of a divot, and i've found he isn't respected by a vast number of brits. he's renouned for being a big 'odd' (to say the least) as well as an environmentalist, and i think like the vast majority of his family, he comes across as being very out of touch with the real world.

many younger people in britain don't seem to support, or pay much attention to the monarchy, or listen what they say- i think they've witnessed them talking out of their bottoms, not paying taxes, living it large, getting away with murder, making faux pas (phil the greek, charles' dad, is the king of faux pas) and well...(erm.. what else do they do?) waving and shaking peoples hands while cutting ribbons, opening buildings, supporting charity and raking in a lot of money, for a long time.

while the queen technically has ultimate power and can override anything our government does, she doesn't interfere. i doubt prince charles latest comment will make much odds to anything. his sons have been known to frequent mcdonalds, and as well as saying that he thinks 'banning it would be a good start' charles has also been caught on tape declaring his wish to be reincarnated as a tampon- which kind of takes any degree of seriousness in my mind, out of anything i see him recorded as having said since.

i also don't think banning mcdonalds really solves the root of the problem either. like the image accompanying the article showed, a cornish pasty is just as unhealthy as a big mac. ban mcdonalds and people will still get and eat junk from somewhere else- ok, having burger bars in schools is clearly a stupid idea, but so is serving doughnuts, soda, grease ridden pepperoni pizza slices, wilted drab salads, and boiled to death cabbage. we need to teach parents and children about proper nutrition, and make it tasty, cheap, and easy for them to put into practice, and we're failing at that.

my schools 'food technology' cookery lessons in a pretty well off area in england, 15 years ago, consisted of teaching 11 to 14 year olds how to make hot chocolate in a microwave, scrambled eggs in a microwave, toasted sandwiches with a toaster, how to put toppings on and grill a pizza, and once we made basic muffins and covered them in icing. also, once we made curry, with a potato, a carrot, an onion, and some curry powder. wow. we didn't learn very much at all about kitchen skills, budgeting, nutrition, menu planning, how to shop, the need for variety in the diet, about different sorts of foods and ingredients from around the world, making food fun, etc.... and not much has changed, from what kids tell me.

seriously, i think thats where we need to start. free, non dairy and meat industry funded nutrition courses for parents to be, with big incentives (free stuff) and mandatory high quality food technology lessons in schools.