PRINCE Charles admitted today he regretted being “deceived” by a disgraced bishop he stayed friends with for more than two decades despite the clergyman having been cautioned for gross indecency.

But the heir to the throne told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) that he was “not aware until recently” that a police caution “carries an acceptance of guilt.”

The statement from Prince Charles was read to the inquiry at the end of hearings into how widespread allegations against former Church of England bishop Peter Ball were ignored.

Ball, who boasted of his links to royalty, accepted a caution for gross indecency in 1993 and resigned due to ill health — it was only 22 years later when he finally admitted his crimes and was jailed for sexually abusing 18 young men over 30 years.

Prince Charles told IICSA: “In the 1980s and 1990s there was a presumption that people such as bishops could be taken at their word and, as a result of the high office they held, were worthy of trust and confidence.”