LONDON -- Prince Charles and Princess Diana's private secretary and treasurer has resigned and a newspaper Thursday blamed the resignation and others before it on Diana, who it said the royal staff finds 'difficult.'
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said Edward Adeane, 45, one of Prince Charles' personal friends, 'will relinquish his posts' at the end of March.
'His resignation was received by the Prince and Princess of Wales with great regret,' she said, adding that his services had been 'much appreciated' by the royal couple.
London's Daily Mirror reported, however, that Adeane was 'only the latest in a long line of aides to leave Princess Diana's side suddenly.'
James Whitaker, the tabloid's royal watcher, said Adeane had told him at a cocktail party three years ago -- just a few months after Diana and Charles were married -- that he would work for the prince 'until he becomes King.'
The Mirror said Diana saw Adeane as a 'fuddy duddy' and did not like the fact he was a confirmed bachelor.
'It would be cruel to lay the blame entirely on Diana,' the Mirror said, 'but it is amazing how people who work for her soon get fed up with doing so.'
'More and more, personal and professional staff talk of Diana being 'difficult,'' the newspaper said.
Speaking of two Scotland Yard policemen assigned to Diana who resigned some two years ago, the Mirror said one of them said he considered the princess 'too jumpy.'
Before the royal couple's honeymoon was even over, Charles' valet Stephen Barry resigned and the Mirror said the last straw came when Barry walked into the royal bedroom without knocking and found Diana 'standing there wearing a nightie.'
In mid-1983, Oliver Everett, Diana's private secretary, also resigned. 'Diana, I was told, was the reason,' the Mirror's royal correspondent said.
'She was being difficult over jobs and insisting on all sorts of last-minute changes,' he said.
'Rather than merely being a beautiful and long-suffering adornment to the Royal Family, she is hard-headed, determined and frequently willful,' the Mirror said.
The paper said Diana had talked Charles out of hunting, something he used to enjoy with Adeane, because she does not approve of blood sports. It also implied Charles had become a vegetarian at Diana's insistence.
