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Prince Charles was so wracked with doubt about his relationship with Princess Diana that he was close to abandoning her at the altar, a new book has claimed.
A biography of the Prince of Wales by Catherine Mayer entitled Charles: Heart Of A King claims to shed light on the mind of the man in the run-up to the royal wedding.
The future Princess, to whom he had been engaged for five months after a brief courtship, was “not the jolly country girl he had assumed”, but instead a vulnerable, complicated woman already suffering from an eating disorder.
The Daily Telegraph revealed that the Prince is said to have told his confidant: “I can’t go through with it, I can’t do it.”
Lady Diana told her own biographer, Andrew Morton, that she confided in her sisters, telling them: “I can’t marry him, I can’t do this, this is absolutely unbelievable.”
They told her it was too late to pull out because “your face is [already] on the tea towels”. But, says Mayer: “She had no idea her bridegroom also had to be coaxed to the altar.”
The book is also said to contain fresh evidence about the extent to which the Prince of Wales trusted Jimmy Savile, later unmasked as one of the worst predatory paedophiles the country has ever known , even asking him to read his speeches for him to give him his thoughts.
The book goes on to claim Prince Charles has turned against promoting British arms companies in the Middle East.
Charles is said to have told aides he “doesn’t like being used to market weaponry” ahead of a tour of the Middle East later this month.
Prince Charles has been a frequent visitor to the Arab world, and last month travelled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to pay his respects following the death of the nation’s King Abdullah.
A Clarence House spokesman said tonight: “The Prince of Wales’ upcoming visit to the Middle East is not about sales of defence equipment and is not essentially commercial.
“The Prince of Wales undertakes official visits on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government.
“The five countries the Prince is visiting in the Middle East are important allies and key partners to the UK. This visit to the Middle East like others is to strengthen relationships and highlight stability in the region.
“The programme has been designed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, its Middle East posts and Clarence House to make the most of the Prince’s knowledge and expertise, and to highlight both HRH’s concerns and those of the UK Government about conflict in the region.”
Clarence House has also claimed the book’s writer, Catherine Mayer, has overstated the exclusive access she was given to the Prince, which only amounted to a nine-minute conversation, according to an aide.
Agencies/Canadajournal
