Opinion How my meeting with Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace inspired a grass roots programme

One has only to examine Charles’s long and dedicated public service record – from caring for the underprivileged, to protecting the environment, to the preservation of historic architecture – to know that not only will he do his utmost to emulate and equal the Queen’s extraordinary service record but will put his own unique stamp on it. Nowhere has this been more evident, to me, than in his desire to engage with India.

I have had the honour and privilege of witnessing King Charles’s love for our country since 1990 when I started working closely with him to work with disadvantaged youth. My father, the former President of India, had been invited to stay at the Buckingham Palace in April 1990, during his state visit to the UK. I had accompanied my parents on this visit and not only experienced the Queen’s enormous warmth first-hand but also had the rare chance to learn about the then Prince Charles’ remarkable programme, the Prince’s Trust.

Over the three days we stayed at Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles shared, with utmost earnestness, the detailed process of how he was helping jobless youth become self-employed during the 1980s (when unemployment was at a record high in the UK under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher). This programme was ahead of its times, when entrepreneurship was not the buzzword it is today. Moreover, he talked about encouraging grass roots’ entrepreneurship to help young people from impoverished parts of the cities in England and rural backgrounds in Scotland and Wales – a concept which was positively foreign at the time. He had earned the gratitude of a lot of young people who saw his programme as an excellent example of how Prince Charles put his heart and soul when he served society.

I was especially captivated when Prince Charles told me at one of the luncheons we had shared three decades ago, about Mohamed Dattoo, a British immigrant of Indian origin from a humble background who had rapidly scaled his startup and had the caught the eye of royalty. His Royal Highness had enquired with his infectious enthusiasm as to whether a similar model could help underprivileged and rural youth in India to start businesses. I had promised to explore the matter further.

Soon after, I set up Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) with the mentorship and guidance of Prince Charles alongside Indian industry stalwarts like JRD Tata and Rahul Bajaj. When the Prince visited India in Feb 1992 and stayed at Rashtrapati Bhavan at my father’s request, he skipped a tour of the Taj Mahal to inaugurate the launch of BYST and spend time with our entrepreneurs and their mentors.

An interesting, related anecdote is about when Prince Philip visited BYST in Oct of 1997. He had accompanied the Queen during her visit to Chennai. Seeing the happy enthusiastic Tamil entrepreneurs, the Duke of Edinburgh remarked that he was glad his son was doing good in the world. Prince Charles was indeed happy to be acknowledged by his father as any son would!

Thereafter, over the past 30 years, Prince Charles has been continuously involved, deeply interested and cared enough to visit us periodically every few years, in Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune, wherever the programme was being set up. His presence at BYST’s 25th anniversary in 2017, was a moment of great joy and pride for us and a moment of deep satisfaction for him. He further used the successful Indian programme to inspire and galvanize countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, to build a successful worldwide movement for grass roots entrepreneurship.

Beyond his involvement with BYST, he has continued to engage deeply with India – as exemplified by his efforts to bring Indian business leaders together to support the cause of farmers through his British Asian Trust and his encouragement of practitioners of Indian traditional medicine in both India and the UK.

We got a glimpse of this passion for his charities when King Charles III addressed the UK and the world last week, when he spoke with great fondness of the many causes, he has devoted himself to his entire life. Indeed, Prince Charles has not been waiting in the wings till he was 73 years old, to become King. He has used his time, energy and resources to move the needle forward for humanity, including the country that he is immensely attached to, India.

Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan is the founding and managing trustee of BYST and daughter of former President of India, R Venkataraman