The book, Charles: The Heart of a King, written by American journalist Catherine Mayer, rehashes old claims that Prince Charles and Princess Diana both entered their 1981 marriage begrudgingly with Charles telling close friends he couldn’t go through with the nuptials on the eve of the wedding.
Mayer, TIME magazine’s editor at large, writes in the biography that as bride-to-be, Lady Diana Spencer was contemplating calling off her wedding, her bridegroom also had his doubts, confiding in an aide: “I can’t go through with it… I can’t do it.”
Mayer’s book, published on Thursday, is also said to quote those close to the Prince who claim he “was desperate” to cancel the ceremony.
While the new book seems in theme with the late Princess’ account of her feelings before the marriage, having told personal biographer Andrew Morton that she confided in her sisters she couldn’t marry Charles and found the whole situation “absolutely unbelievable”, Clarence House crushed Mayer’s book.
“It is not an official book,” Kristina Kyriacou, Prince Charles’s head of communications told The Mail on Sunday. “The author did not have the access as claimed. Clarence House has no further comment.”
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It is understood that like other journalists Mayer was a member of the Royal rota which was granted access to cover Prince Charles at work but according to The Telegraph sources said the only “exclusive access” she was given to the Prince amounted to a nine-minute conversation.
Author Catherine Mayer.
Mayer hit back at the criticism telling the BBC: “I had some help from Clarence House to not only attend events that press could accredit for, but also to talk to members of his inner circle and his friends.”
Publishers of Mayer’s book say it reveals “a man in sight of happiness yet still driven by anguish” with “views that mean he will never be as impartial as his mother”.
