A group of British architects has called for a boycott of a lecture by Charles Windsor who is due to become Britain’s head of state when his mother dies.
Mr. Windsor will give the lecture at the Royal Institute of Architects on Tuesday. The nine architects called for a boycott in a letter to the Guardian newspaper. They are protesting against Mr. Windsor’s use of his feudal privileges to give an unfair advantage to those who oppose modern architecture.
In the 1980s an architects’ practice with a high reputation suffered a major decline in business when Windsor criticised its design for an extension to the National Gallery in London. This year he is using his influence to stop a modern redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site, also in London where the Windsor family have two palaces. Ten architects of international renown, including Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry, have signed a letter criticising Windsor’s intervention.