Prince Charles pulls out of Royal Film Performance over fears of Bangladeshi backlash

With royalty on the guest list and revered critics on the seats, it should have been a seamless event.

But the film premier of the controversial novel Brick Lane hit the proverbial brick wall, when Prince Charles got a whiff of dissent.

Fearing a public backlash to the film - which many believe is condescending to the Bangladeshi community - the future King politely declined his invite to the Royal Film Performance.

Although, in public, he blamed a clash of diaries for not being able to attend, in private it is believed he feared a clash of multiculturalism.

Trying to present the monarchy as a friend of all faiths, he and his wife Duchess of Cornwall took the decision not be attend the charity gala in case of embarrassing protests.

But the decision to dismiss the invite does not come lightly.

A member of the Royal Family has been at the Royal Film Performance every year since 1946, apart from 1958.

It is now thought the screening of Brick Lane, due on October 29, will not go ahead - the second time in 61 years it will not happen.

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The embarrassing retreat came after the controversial film was chosen for the event.

Brick Lane, written by Monica Ali and short-listed for the 2003 Booker Prize, tells story of a Bangladeshi woman sent to London for an arranged marriage.

But it proved controversial - with many members of the Bangladeshi community saying it was insulting and portrayed them as uneducated.

Last year, efforts to film a big screen version of the book last year were met by protests from about 120 local residents living close to Brick Lane in East London.

The Prince has always been careful to present himself as a friend of Britian's ethnic minority communities.

Several times in the past he has spoken of his respect for Islam and, most famously, he has distenced himself from the monarchy's role at the head of the Church of England.

Charles has said that, when he becomes King, he wants to be seen more as defender of faith, rather than defender of The Faith.

The film, directed by Sarah Gavron, will now be premiered in Britain at The Times BFI London Film Festival on October 26.

A Clarence House spokesman said: "There has been quite a lot of controversy about that film which everyone was aware of.

"The appropriateness of the film chosen is important but so is the date. It is a mixture of both reasons."

He added: "At the start, it had been one of a number of films proposed. None of the films and none of the dates worked."

Peter Hore, chief executive of the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF), which helps organise the screening, said the lack of a Royal Film Performance in 2007 would affect the charity's finances.

"Brick Lane was nominated for the Royal Film Performance. We thought it was a beautiful film and one of the best independent British productions of the season," Mr Hore said.

"For whatever reason it no longer works in the Royal diary.

"The Prince's office has kindly offered to find a date in the new year.

"It's the principle fundraising event for the CTBF so it does leave a gap in our finances."

In 1946, the Queen - then Princess Elizabeth - accompanied her parents and sister to see David Niven and Marius Goring in A Matter of Life and Death.

Last year, the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh attended the premiere of Bond film Casino Royale.

It is not the first time the Prince of Wales has taken care to be seen as sympathetic to all faiths.

In 2005, he met with US President George Bush to voice his concerns over America's 'confrontational' approach to Muslim countries and its failure to appreciate Islam's strengths.

In 1994, the Prince said that when he became Supreme Governor of the Church of England, he would rather be 'defender of faiths' than 'defender of the faith'.

A year earlier he made a speech, acclaimed throughout the Arab world, where he urged the West to overcome its 'unthinkable prejudices' about Islam and its customs and laws.