A retired bishop who is a close friend of Prince Charles will be prosecuted for child abuse, it was revealed yesterday.
The Right Reverend Bishop Peter Ball, 82, will become the most senior Church of England figure to be hauled into court on a child sex charge.
He faces two counts of indecent assault – one in 1978 on a boy aged 12 or 13; the second in the 1980s on a man who was 19 or 20.
Ball will also be prosecuted for misconduct in public office while he was a bishop.
Jaswant Narwal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said yesterday: “It is alleged he sexually abused a number of young males between 1977 and 1992.
“The misconduct alleged is that he misused his position and authority to manipulate and prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification.”
Ball was Bishop of Lewes, in East Sussex, from 1977 until 1992 when he became Bishop of Gloucester, before resigning in 1993.
He was originally arrested in 2012 at his home in Langport, Somerset, over claims he had sexually assaulted 19 men and boys in East Sussex.
But he fell ill and was deemed unfit to be quizzed at that time.
Police said yesterday the CPS was arranging for Ball to be ordered to appear at Brighton magistrates court on April 10.
In 1993, after Charles invited him to live in a Duchy of Cornwall property, Ball said: “The prince is a loyal friend.”