You'd think Prince Charles would approve of foie gras: Alexander Chancellor says that it is the sort of food which the Prince should like: free of chemicals and genetic manipulation, produced on small family farms, and steeped in tradition.

No foie gras was served at the banquet for Nicolas and Carla Sarkozy at Windsor Castle last week, which was hardly surprising, since the Prince of Wales, who was very much in evidence, had recently joined the swelling ranks of those who regard the force-feeding of ducks and geese as a barbaric practice.

In February it was revealed that Prince Charles had banned foie gras from his table and had even decided to review the royal warrant given to his local delicatessen, the House of Cheese at Tetbury near Highgrove, because it offered it for sale.

Perhaps the French President hadn't been told about this; but if he had, he might well have regarded the Prince's stand as a provocation, given France's fierce pride in its incomparable national delicacy.

France not only produces about 75 per cent of all the foie gras eaten in the world, it has also, in a motion passed by the National Assembly, declared it to be a 'cultural and gastronomic patrimony protected in France'--warning everyone …