March 9, 2010  Print Email | Prankster offers castle to the man who has everything
But Prince Charles doesn't rise to the joke
Posted by Agencies at 09:07 AM GMT on Mar 12, 2009 | BRASILIA (AFP): Prince Charles has been offered a castle by a notorious Brazilian TV prankster.
As the heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla were being shown around the Brazilian congress in Brasilia, a presenter from a national television show known for its pranks came up to him.
 Showing a picture of an extravagant castle owned by a Brazilian lawmaker's family, and currently up for sale, the presenter asked the prince in English if he'd like to buy it for £6 million ($8.3 million).
Prince Charles looked surprised but maintained his rule of not speaking to reporters outside of organised events.
The castle itself has been the subject of scandal in Brazil.
The lawmaker who had it built, Edmar Moreira, had to resign his post last month as the junior vice-president of the chamber of representatives after it emerged he had not declared the property.
Moreira, a 70-year-old former police-chief-turned-businessman, defended himself by saying he had signed over the castle, which boasts turrets, pools and 36 suites, but no moat, to his sons, and complained he was a victim of "persecution."
The TV joke was not the only breach of protocol faced by Prince Charles, who was in Brazil to campaign for environmental preservation.
Yesterday, the office of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also managed to make a mistake in nomenclature on its official itinerary for the prince.
It gave the prince's full name as "Charles Philip Arthur Chaves, the Prince of Wales", instead of his proper name, Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor.
"Chaves" is a nickname given to a character acted by Brazilian comic who masquerades as an oafish Mexican called "El Chavo".
The mistake was later corrected.
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