THE shocking extent of British crown prince Charles Windsor’s meddling in politics was exposed yesterday.

A gaggle of ministerial has-beens speaking to BBC Radio 4 revealed that the eccentric royal had repeatedly attempted to force his favoured policies on elected governments.

Blairite ex-education secretary David Blunkett reported that the prince had attempted to shift Labour to a pro-grammar schools position in the late 1990s — but said he “didn’t mind” the undemocratic interference because it gave Mr Windsor something to do.

“If you are waiting to be the king … you genuinely have to engage with something or you’d go spare,” Mr Blunkett said.

Other ex-ministers were similarly soft on the would-be monarch, with Peter Hain saying they shared an interest in “complementary medicine” — Mr Windsor is well known for his advocacy of unscientific homeopathic treatments.

Mr Hain noted that when he was secretary of state for Northern Ireland Prince Charles had been “delighted” to find that “since I was running the place I could more or less do what I wanted to do.

“I was able to introduce a trial for complementary medicine on the NHS,” he concluded.

But anti-monarchy campaigners Republic said “this royal interference is not acceptable.”

Chief executive Graham Smith said: “We know this lobbying is carrying on.

“What the public don’t know is how much policy is being shaped by Charles. He is wading into some very controversial issues such as grammar schools, GM crops and alternative medicine. 

“The government needs to come clean, reveal the extent of royal influence. Without that transparency our democracy is under threat.”