They fell out on the ski slopes thanks to THAT infamous “hot mic.” But Prince Charles and BBC’s ‘terrible’ Nicholas Witchell were finally RECONCILED in the deserts of Saudi Arabia…

Even after fifty years of distinguished journalistic service, Nicholas Witchell is remembered above all for one incident.

There was already tension in the air when Charles, William and Harry held a short press conference and photo opportunity on the slopes of Klosters in 2005.

Charles and Camilla would soon marry – after much discussion and in the face of considerable opposition. Thanks to his memoirs, we now know that Prince Harry was among those who didn’t approve.

It hardly helped that their family vacation, they said, was interrupted by an army of paparazzi photographers.

Perhaps the tension was responsible for what happened next.

Surrounded by cameras, journalists and microphones, Nicholas Witchell, the BBC’s long-serving Royal Correpsondent, asked a pre-arranged question about how the Prince of Wales felt about the upcoming wedding.

Charles gave a somewhat unhelpful response – “I’m glad you heard about it” – and then sat down next to his sons and talked about his true feelings.

“I hate doing this… Damn people. I can’t tolerate that man. I mean, he’s so terrible, he really is. I hate these people

However privately he thought he had spoken, Charles’ words were picked up by a microphone on the slopes and then broadcast to the world.

(William answered his own questions more smoothly, saying of his role in the wedding: “As long as I don’t lose the rings – that’s the only responsibility.”

The Guardian’s then Royal Correspondent, author, reported on the episode at the time Stephen Bates gave blow by blow report.

‘The mumbled conversation began when Charles asked his two sons, ‘Do I put my arms around you?’

‘Prince William replied: ‘No, don’t, but you can take away the awful glasses.’

‘Charles said, ‘Don’t be rude about my glasses, I couldn’t bear it if you were.’

‘Encouraged by a member of the press to ‘look like you know each other’, the two princes leaned into their father, who threw his arms around them.

‘Charles then muttered, ‘What should we do?’

William replied, “Keep smiling, keep smiling.”

The Prince of Wales’ then spokesman, Paddy Harverson, later explained the situation:

‘Nicholas was in the line of fire when the prince expressed his general frustration with the paparazzi and it boiled over at the first person who asked a question.

‘It wasn’t personal. He regrets saying it. He really didn’t mean to take it out on Nicholas.’

Witchell, who always described himself as stunned by the incident, recently announced he is retiring from the BBC after half a century of service.

But, as he recently explained, there was an intriguing postscript: a reconciliation of sorts, years later in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Witchell told it the Telegraph: ‘There was no contact for years. Quite a few years actually. Then a press secretary came to the conclusion that this was absurd.

‘We fell out on the icy ski slopes of Klosters and a kind of rapprochement emerged in the desert of Saudi Arabia. We had a very friendly conversation, but you wouldn’t expect this moment to be brought up and analyzed.”

He added that the day had been far from smooth from start to finish, noting that “people were not in the best mood that morning.”

Yet the setbacks did not harm his career in the long term, he concluded.

Until then, a man once known as the ‘bionic carrot’ thanks to his red hair was best known for arresting a lesbian protester who had infiltrated the BBC studios and Six O’Clock News.

Witchell famously sat on her and covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from screaming.

Mr Witchell and Charles had further clashes after the incident, most notably at an environmental fundraiser in Washington DC ten years later.

The reporter asked the king why he “still cared so much” about environmental issues, to which Charles replied, “Well, I’ll turn it the other way.” I think you’d be more surprised if I didn’t care about these things.

“But I think, especially in terms of what I’ve been talking about now, there’s a lot to worry about.”

The pair have also worked together on the British Normandy Memorial, of which Witchell is a trustee, after setting up the Normandy Memorial Trust in 2016.