Charles: Victim or villain? Book

If you want to hear nice things about Princess Diana, listen to England's Rose: Tribute to Diana or read Andrew Morton's Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words. Penny Junor's controversial bestseller tells another tale. "[Charles] had to put up with years of tantrums and abuse," writes Junor. "Charles cut his friends out of his life at Diana's insistence, and even gave away the dog he loved in an effort to make Diana happy." Junor charges Diana with tricking Charles into marriage; cruelty to her children's nanny; refusal to see the psychiatrist Charles worriedly recommended for her anorexia; beating Charles to the punch in the adultery department; and making phone calls to Camilla in which Diana "would say things like, 'I've sent someone to kill you.... Look out of the window; can you see them?'" Junor quotes Prince William as saying, "Papa doesn't embarrass me. Mama does." While she doesn't paint Charles in fully glowing colors, Junor's portrait of Diana is startlingly harsh. Regarding the "Camillagate" tapes of Charles's crude love talk, which will humiliate the whole family forever, Junor darkly notes that: "The Princess was one of very few people who knew the Prince's mobile telephone number, and it was known that she had been worried about bugging on her own account and had installed some sophisticated equipment at Kensington Palace." How upsetting is this book? Newspapers report that Junor is herself besieged by paparazzi and hate mail and travels with a bodyguard. --Tim Appelo Read More