PRIVATELY educated and privileged beyond belief, Prince Charles wants grammar schools back. He’s lobbied Cabinet ministers for their return. As king he would happily preside over arguably the cruellest, most divisive system of education we’ve yet had.

That’s how I see it. And let’s face it, since we’ve all been to school, many of us in the grammar school era, we’re all well qualified to give an opinion.

I attended a grammar school – a particularly good one, I think – and I’m grateful for the excellent education it gave me. More than that I enjoyed my time there and look back fondly on it. It was with slightly heavy heart that, just a week or two back, I jettisoned a lot of old school paraphernalia, to ease the eventual clear-out chore of my children.

But I suspect I only just scraped through the 11-plus. What would have been my future had I failed? I wouldn’t be writing this column, for which some you might give thanks. But would I have reached even the lowest level of professional competence as say, a joiner or a plumber, the careers invariably first specified for those condemned – for that is how it was seen - to a Secondary Modern. My DIY skills suggest not.

It is David Blunkett, a former Labour education secretary, who has revealed Prince Charles’ lobbying for the grammar schools.

Apparently he believes that the grammars provide “the best opportunity for children from poor families to escape their background”.

But though poor kids did make the cut, the grammar schools were still largely the preserve of the middle class. No higher than lower middle – my dad was foreman/ general manager of a brickyard – my parents were well-enough off to pay for private maths tuition for me. Without that there’s no doubt I would have failed the 11-plus.

But Prince Charles’ backing for the grammars has now launched a bandwagon. David Davis, a former Tory leadership candidate, says a manifesto pledge to restore grammars would be popular. Chris McGovern, chairman of the pro-grammar school Campaign for Real Education, claims new selective schools would be “hugely popular with a majority of parents.”

That’s until the first results of the restored 11-plus are announced, with only a lucky few little Johnies or Jackies succeeding, leaving the majority of parents as unhappy with the 11-plus as were their predecessors in the grammar schools’ heyday.

I couldn’t fault the education my three children received at the local comprehensive school. But even better, I would say, is the education at the (different) comprehensive school attended by our two teenage grand-daughters.

Yes, these schools are in nice middleclass areas. How to even up the quality of education in comprehensives is a problem.

Whether the new academies achieve this holy grail I don’t know. But I do know that bringing back grammar schools is a bad, very bad, idea. The popular description of the system, “sheep and goats” says it all.

I SAW the Luis Suarez goals against England. Most fans seem to feel that Fifa has acted firmly in banning him for four months but he should never be allowed on any football pitch again.