For a man with more homes than most — as well as Highgrove and Clarence House, there is Birkhall in Scotland and a farmhouse in Carmarthenshire — there is a certain boldness in the assertion that, when it comes to architecture, the Prince of Wales is a man of the people. But that is what his acolytes would have the world believe.

Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, wrote in a recent article: “Prince Charles speaks for most people’s ideas about buildings, towns and cities, and architects can’t stand that.”

He was undoubtedly right in one respect: architects, most of them, cannot stand what he says. Since his “carbuncle” speech 25 years ago, Charles has been at war with the profession.

There was a half-hearted attempt at reconciliation when he gave a kiss-and-make-up lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in May, but the truth is that the gulf between the Prince and modernists likesuch as Lord Rogers is as wide as ever.

Poundbury, and later the Prince’s Foundation, have been Charles’s way of promulgating his views — views he would say, with some justification, are more in tune with those of the general public than many architects — while by-passing what he might call the profession’s carbuncle tendency.

But if that conveys the impression that Charles is a listener, it would be misleading. Convinced of his opinions, he has a wilful streak, as anyone who has crossed him would testify. That is not necessarily a bad thing as it means that he can get results where a less determined man would give up. It does mean, however, that he has got used to people agreeing with him.

The story is told of a businessman who, invited to a meeting with Charles, disagreed with one of the Prince’s proposals. Charles, taken aback, said that everyone else consulted had said what a brilliant idea it was. Perhaps, said the businessman, that was because he was the Prince of Wales. The man was never invited back.

Charles’s influence is immense. After the controversy over Chelsea Barracks, where a scheme by Lord Rogers was undermined when the Prince wrote to the site’s Qatari owners, a number of developers admitted passing plans for major projects to Clarence House to avoid him raising damaging objections later on. Although they Clarence House denied that it was the case, the influence exerted by the Prince — directly or indirectly — was highlighted when it was announced that the Prince’s Foundation would be consulted over the new submissions for Chelsea Barracks.

As ever, Charles finds himself in an unenviable position. Whatever he tries to do there are those who accuse him of being out of touch. And perhaps he does try to listen. At Poundbury the Prince insisted on community consultation, against the advice of officials. In Scotland, the Foundation has been following the tradition the Prince set down 20 years earlier. But the question is: are they really listening?

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