UK NEWS

CHARLES HAS GROWTH CUT OFF HIS NOSE

SMALL OP: Prince Charles

Saturday May 24,2008

By Richard Palmer, Royal Correspondent

PRINCE Charles sported a plaster on the right side of the bridge of his nose yesterday after having a non-cancerous growth removed.

Aides said he had the red blemish taken off for cosmetic reasons by a doctor who went to Clarence House on Thursday afternoon.

They disclosed the minor procedure yesterday after the Prince was photographed planting a tree in a ceremony in the grounds of his home at Highgrove, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

Clarence House would not disclose full details, only stating it was “a routine and minor matter”.

The Royal Family have a history of receiving treatment for growths on their faces.

Both of Charles’s parents have suffered the same problem. Prince Philip underwent a minor procedure in 1996 to erase a small benign growth on his nose. And in January 2003 the Queen had minor non-cancerous growths removed from her face by surgeons.

During the tree-planting event Charles – who wore a grey suit, blue shirt, red tie and a white carnation on his lapel – took up a shovel and planted an oak sapling to mark the official end of the Gloucestershire 1,000 Trees campaign.

The planting campaign was to celebrate the county’s millennium.