Prince Chuck Causes
Beef-Eating Outrage

LONDON — A little perspective, please!

The President of the United States is accused of rape and the U.S. press yawns; Britain's figurehead prince is charged with eating beef and the press on that side of the pond goes ballistic.

An inquiry has been launched after a wave of front-page headlines Tuesday noting that Prince Charles and the Labor government's Welsh Secretary ate banned beef on the bone at an event staged to promote Welsh meat.

Both men ate the beef Monday, with the prince declaring it ``absolutely delicious.''

The government banned the sale of beef on the bone in December 1997 after warnings it could be linked to ``mad cow'' disease. It is not illegal, however, to eat it.

A spokeswoman for Charles, speaking with customary anonymity, said the prince did not know the beef had been sliced from a bone.

``He was offered some beef and tasted it,'' she said. ``There was always going to be a tasting, but we did not know how the beef was going to be presented.''

Welsh Secretary Alun Michael also said he did not realize he had been eating beef on the bone.

Organizers of the event at the Celtic Manor Hotel and Country Club in the Welsh town of Newport said they had not been wrong in serving the beef since it was a gift.

``There is no regulation stopping beef on the bone being served in this situation,'' said Yvonne Colgan, the Celtic Manor's general manager. ``There is only a regulation stopping it being sold to the public.''

A spokeswoman for the Newport County Borough Council said its environmental health department would decide whether to press charges against the hotel.