...The affair began at the beginning of July, when Knesset Chairman Dalia Itzik visited London and met with the British royal. Itzik and Prince Charles exchanged jokes and discussed politics and environmental issues.

At the end of the meeting, the Israeli official invited the Prince of Wales to visit the Jewish state for its 60th anniversary celebrations.

Following the meeting, the Jewish Chronicle reported Friday, Israeli Ambassador to Britain Zvi Heifetz invited Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles’s principal private secretary, and Clive Alderton, deputy private secretary, to Israel as a prelude to a possible official visit by the prince.

In August, Sir Michael — copying in Alderton — expressed enthusiasm for the idea, replying in an email to the embassy, "The invitation is hugely appreciated and Clive and I would love to come."

However, a private email exchange a month later between the two aides to the prince revealed a completely different picture.

In the exchange of emails seen by the JC, Alderton privately sought reassurance from his superior that the pair need never accept the invitation.

Alderton — whose responsibilities include foreign affairs and relations with ethnic and faith communities and who has accompanied Prince Charles and his wife on a visit to Kuwait in February— complained to Sir Michael in an email of being "pursued" by the ambassador, and asked: "Safe to assume there is no chance of this visit ever actually happening?

"Acceptance would make it hard to avoid the many ways in which Israel would want HRH (Prince Charles) to help burnish its international image. In which case, let’s agree a way to lower his expectations."...