The prince and the pauper

Clive then told the prince that he made a “few mistakes” in his life and he had lost everything. For the last two weeks he has been selling the Big Issue wearing a red scarf and Santa Claus hat.

The old classmates shared a joke when Clive showed the prince his hat and offered to let him wear it. “That’s all I need,” came the reply, to shrieks of laughter.

Clive had told the prince that selling the magazine had brought discipline back into his life. “It gives people a purpose and discipline in their lives.”

The prince told him: “As long as you’re all right, that’s the main thing.”Clive later explained that his father was a well-known financier who lived in a mansion in Launceston Place, central London. Of his schooldays he said: “(The prince) and I were in the same stream for about two years and I reminded (him) how we used to walk from the school to the Territorial Army ground near Sloane Square for football.

“He remembered that and he also remembered the headmaster giving us mint sweets. The prince did not remember me of course and I only remember him because we both had big ears and because he was obviously well known there. It is a long time ago and I can not really remember if I was very friendly with the prince.”

After leaving Hill House, Clive went to Millfield public school while the prince went to Gordonstoun.

“After college, I became a journalist and was writing showbiz pages on Woman’s Own and other women’s magazines,” Clive said.

Woman’s Own confirmed he had worked for the magazine as a staff feature writer and gossip columnist between July 1981 and January 1983. He added: “I wrote a book called The Uninvited, which went to number eight in the best-seller lists. I still carry a copy of it around with me.

It is a sort of security blanket. Everything was going so well in my career. I was speaking with stars like Sylvester Stallone and I went to New York and Hollywood. I sold the film rights to my book in Hollywood but nothing came of it. I am still technically under contract to write a second book, but that’s difficult at the moment.

“While things were going well in my career, my private life was falling apart. I realised that I had not given enough time to my family and friends. I suppose the booze got me in the end.”

He added: “I have been married twice and it was when my second marriage failed that things really fell apart. I lost my house and one day I woke up in a shop doorway in the Strand [in central London]. I had lost everything. I had had everything but then I had nothing.”

He said that with the help of the Big Issue he was getting his confidence back. He is now on benefit and living at a bed and breakfast. “I have joined a writing class here and teach others to do what I should be doing.”

Big Issue founder John Bird said: “The prince told me as he left `It just shows you, doesn’t it?’ “Today’s meeting illustrates that anyone can find themselves on the streets, no matter what start they had in life.”

Prince Charles…
1949: Born
1950s: Hill House School
1960s: Gordonstoun, then Cambridge University
1970s: Becomes full-time Royal, making public appearances and doing charity work
1980s: Marries and starts family. Moves into Highgrove estate, Gloucestershire
1990s: Divorced. Grows into role as heir to throne

…AND CLIVE
1949: Born
1950s: Hill House School
1960s: Millfield School
1970s: Writer. Publishes The Unin-vited, study of UFO sightings in Wales
1980s: Joins Woman’s Own magazine. Life falls apart because of drink. Second marriage dissolves. Ends up sleeping rough in London
1990s: Approaches the Big Issue. Given a trainee slot.