Prince Charles Believes His Father Bullied Him Into Marrying Princess Diana
Prince Charles believed his father bullied him into marrying Diana, according to a new book, The Sun has reported.
Sally Bedell Smith, author of the upcoming biography, Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life, says in 1980, while he and Diana were dating, rumors flew that sullied her honor—and Prince Charles' father Prince Philip was not amused.
Tongues wagged after news surfaced that the couple had spent a night together on the royal train.
According to Smith, Prince Philip became gravely concerned that the then-19-year-old Diana's honor "had been impugned" and wrote his son a letter saying that Diana's "reputation was on the line." He urged Prince Charles to make up his mind on whether to propose to the teen or not, Smith wrote.
Charles, now 68, chose to interpret his dad's letter as "coercive and accusatory," the book says.
Philip's cousin Pamela Hicks said, "Charles read it as: 'You've got to get engaged.'
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"He wasn't in love. He wasn't ready. He saw it as a ghastly threat," Hicks claimed.
Smith, the bestselling author of Elizabeth the Queen, wrote that Charles, still the heir to the throne as his mother continues to rule at 90, was emotionally stunted.
While still wed to Diana, he was "riven with anxieties over his marriage and bleak future," she said.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana, who wed in 1981, were officially divorced in 1996. Diana died in a car accident with her lover Dodi Fayed at age 36 in 1997.
In 2005, Charles married his longtime mistress Camilla Parker Bowles, 69, but Smith's biography claims that the Prince has cheated on her, too.