WHEN I got to 60 — having toiled in the journalism fields since the age of 16 — I looked forward to taking things easy.

It is surely bizarre that Prince Charles has reached the same landmark and is still an apprentice.

If his mother, the Queen, takes after his grandmother, the Queen Mother, he could be approaching 80 before he starts his proper job.

That cannot be a sensible way to do things, but the man born to be King has been amazingly patient and he deserves credit for that.

In the meantime, I hope he makes full use of the opportunities for travel that are now open to him courtesy of the pensioner’s bus pass and that he appreciates his free prescriptions and winter fuel allowance.

If he wants a job to tide himself over before he starts the main one, he could always try donning a bib for a well-known DIY chain or pushing trolleys around at his local supermarket. Lack of experience would be a drawback, though.