DON’T be fooled by Prince Charles’ smile and bonhomie as he met Gerry Adams, a man who has never expressed any concrete public regret that IRA terrorists murdered Earl Mountbatten, Charles’ beloved uncle.

Like his mum, Charles is trained to grin, nod, ask questions and generally look like he gives a damn.

And when it came to Adams, with his cold, dead eyes and his perpetual apologism for the kind of people who blow up children and murder innocent mothers, Charles put on an Oscar-worthy performance.

As it is, I bet he later scrubbed the hand that did the shaking.

In a speech after the meet-and-greet, Charles spoke about forgiveness.

“As a grandfather now myself, I pray that (his) words can apply to all those who have been so hurt and scarred by the troubles of the past, so that all of us who inhabit these Atlantic islands may leave our grandchildren a legacy of lasting peace, forgiveness and friendship.”

When talking about the people of Mullaghmore, the little village whose ‘loving kindness’ had helped comfort him following the death of his uncle there, in 1979, I’m sure Charles meant it. You could see by his smiles that he loved them and they loved him.

But he didn't say whether he had personally forgiven those who murdered Lord Mountbatten and I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.

Forgiveness is pedalled as the panacea for all ills these days. We are urged to forgive, to 'set ourselves free', as if bestowing forgiveness on a person who deliberately took your loved one from you is going to dramatically improve your life.

It's up to every single person to do what they think is right but I find the pressure on all those who have suffered grievous wrongs to forgive, at times, intolerable, and I admire people who are brave enough to say that, actually, they can’t.

Some evildoers are forgiven by their victims in what is a truly amazing thing to behold. But no one should feel forced to forgive, forced to shake hands with the devil, just so everyone else can have a nice warm feeling about the world.

I knew someone who had been sexually abused by her father and when he was on his death bed she was urged to see him, to offer the hand of reconciliation because; 'You may regret it later'. How arrogant is that? She didn't see him, she got on with her life, which I’m sure was greatly improved by knowing her abuser wouldn’t be troubling anyone anymore.

If you can forgive, then well done you. But it doesn’t make you a better person than someone who can’t.

In shaking the hand of Gerry Adams, Prince Charles looked as if he was doing what he HAD to do. But in his warm words and relaxed look as he visited the town his uncle had so loved, you could see he was finally doing what he WANTED to do.

Why Chuka Umunna dropped out of leadership race 

IN THE end it looks as if that ‘skeleton’ in Labour leadership drop-out Chuka Umunna’s closet was that he allegedly belonged to a club so posh, the brandy costs upwards of £300 a bottle.

Is that really why he bottled it? I reckon so. At the end of the day I’m guessing Chuka looked at his home, his designer suits, his glamorous metropolitan lifestyle and thought; “Crikey, do I really want to spent the next five years freezing my backside off in the north of England, pretending to enjoy warm beer and curry and chips, just to get down with the working class?”

Willie will bounce back 

FESSING up to a chronic gambling habit and possible bankruptcy, former snooker ace Willie Thorne tells how he tapped up players Dennis Taylor and John Virgo for £5,000.

“They both said things were ‘a bit tricky’. I think they probably knew it was for gambling,” admits Willie.

If that’s true, then good for them. Often it’s so much easier to give in to a mate’s demands; lend them the £100 or buy them the drink they shouldn’t have. With mates like these, Willie has every chance of bouncing back. If only that was the case with ALL troubled celebs...

More roles than MPs

OF COURSE the Lib Dems will be offering their useless ex-leader Nick ‘Hubris’ Clegg a ‘high-profile role’ in their new front bench team. There are only eight of them; they’ll all have to take three jobs because, thanks to Clegg’s mismanagement, there are more roles than MPs now. Looking on the bright side, however, they won’t need a front bench, a garden bench would do.

What a wet lettuce

FORMER poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion says he’s quitting the UK because he feels: “Still so hard-pressed to the national bosom that I’m suffocating.”

Eh? Would it bring him any comfort to know that around 90 per cent of the population have not only never read one of his poems, they have never heard of him, either, the great, wet lettuce?