Support for Diana?

2003-10-22 11:20

London - Prince Philip told Princess Diana he "never dreamed" his son Prince Charles might leave her for Camilla Parker Bowles, according to excerpts published on Tuesday from a forthcoming book by Diana's butler.

"I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla," Philip wrote, according to former royal servant Paul Burrell's book A Royal Duty. The Daily Mirror newspaper is running the excerpts.

In a series of letters, Burrell said, Philip expressed disapproval of both Diana and Charles for having affairs during their marriage and pointedly criticised Charles for his involvement with longtime companion Parker Bowles.

"We do not approve of either of you having lovers," Philip wrote in a letter in the summer of 1992, the newspaper said. "Charles was silly to risk everything with Camilla for a man in his position. We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her. Such a prospect never even entered our heads."

Partly responsible

But Philip also told Diana that her behaviour was partly responsible for strains in the marriage. She admitted having an affair with former cavalry officer James Hewitt.

"Can you honestly look into your heart and say that Charles's relationship with Camilla had nothing to do with your behaviour towards him in your marriage?" Philip was quoted as saying.

Diana's apparently strained relationship with her in-laws has been widely discussed in Britain's tabloid press over the years.

Burrell, a longtime servant whom Diana once called "my rock", said the princess was distressed by some of the "accusing" letters that Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, sent her in 1992 as her marriage was foundering. But later Diana "learned to respect his honesty", Burrell recounted.

- AP