The Prince of Wales faced demands today to give evidence to the official inquiry into the Iraq war as reports emerged that he had lobbied against the invasion after seeing secret evidence used to justify the overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Confidential correspondence between the Prince and Tony Blair about the decision to go to war should also be handed over to the Chilcot inquiry, campaigners said.

The calls follow a report that the Prince privately lobbied against the invasion of Iraq and feared the war would damage Britain’s standing in the Middle East.

The anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has made a formal submission of evidence to the inquiry about a recent report that the Prince allegedly pressed for a rethink about the plans to overthrow Saddam.