Back in 2014, Prince Charles sparked a major diplomatic row with Russian President Vladimir Putin by comparing him to Adolf Hitler just days before their scheduled meeting.

The comments were made by the Prince of Wales during a private conversation with a Jewish refugee during a state visit to Canada, but they sparked a furious backlash.

He sparked the uproar by discussing the crisis while visiting the Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

He made his candid remarks to Marienne Ferguson, a Jewish museum volunteer who told the Prince about her family’s escape from Hitler.

“The Prince said: ‘And now Putin is doing about the same as Hitler,’ she later told a journalist.”

“I must say that I agree with him, as I’m sure many others do.

“But I was surprised he said it, because I know they (members of the Royal Family) aren’t supposed to say such things.”

As a result, the Russian Embassy in London demanded answers from Downing Street and the Foreign Office.

The Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti also claimed that the British Royal Family had historical ties to Nazi Germany.

A spokeswoman for the Prince of Wales said, “The Prince of Wales would not seek to make a political statement during a private conversation.”

According to RIA Novosti, Charles’ uncle, Prince Christop of Hesse, was “a senior SS officer in the Third Reich,” and his great uncle, Edward VIII, “was a personal friend of Hitler.”

Outraged British politicians retaliated last night, citing Charles’s father, the late Prince Philip, as a war hero.

Philip, then a first lieutenant in the Royal Navy, saved scores of Allied lives in 1943 by foiling a Luftwaffe bomber on its way to destroy their ship.

Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, a member of the Monarchist Society, said the Russian reaction was “outrageous”.

“I think it is an absolute insult of the highest order to be throwing around accusations about our Royal family,” he said at the time.

“Charles has rightly pointed out that Putin is acting exactly like Hitler did in the Sudetenland. I think he’s spot on.

“A pattern is emerging here – whenever anybody stands up to Putin, he turns round and calls them fascists. It’s a bit rich.”

In a direct personal message to the Prince back in 2014, Mr Putin said: “Give my words to Prince Charles.

“He has been to our country more than once, if he made such a comparison, it is unacceptable and I am sure he understands that as a man of manners.

“I met him personally, as well as other members of the Royal Family. This is not what monarchs do.

“But over the past few years we have seen so much, nothing surprises me any longer.”

Mr Putin added: “I will be guided not by what they say about me anywhere.

“I will only be guided by the interests of the Russian people, and I hope our colleagues in Great Britain will keep that in mind and will always remember that when finding solutions to any issues, we are always guided by international law and its norms.”

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