Prince furious over TV 'love life' idea

LONDON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Prince Charles has been infuriated with an attempt by his younger brother, Prince Edward, to get him to take part in a television documentary about his turbulent love life, a journalist close to the late Princess Diana reported on Monday.

Richard Kay wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper Edward envisioned a "frank" TV program that would deal with the private life of Charles, heir-designate to the British throne, including his marriage to and divorce from Diana and his love for the princess's rival, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Kay, a close confidant of Diana in the days leading to and during her split from the prince of Wales, said Edward telephoned Charles with his "extraordinary request" just before Christmas, and that Charles "was said to be so appalled he could barely speak."

The reporter quoted one royal servant as saying "he absolutely flipped," and that Charles told friends that, "I cannot believe the audacity of the man."

The program Edward planned as part of his "A to Z of Royalty" series his Ardent productions company is putting together for a U.S. cable channel "would probe his brother's stormy marriage and his adultery with Mrs. Parker Bowles," his constant companion in recent years, Kay wrote.

"Edward told the incredulous Charles that although he was not asking to interview the prince himself," said the reporter, "he would like access to some of his closest friends."

The reported clash added to tensions between the brothers that began building when Charles accused Edward's Ardent company of "stalking" Prince William, Charles's oldest son by Princess Diana, at St. Andrews University in Scotland.

Kay said another confidant told him Charles found the idea of a TV program about his love life "incredibly troubling."

The prince "has had to live with the consequences of his actions, which it could be said ultimately led to the death of the princess" in a car crash in Paris, Kay said.

The journalist said Edward "has long been regarded as the most arrogant" of Queen Elizabeth's four children, "and controversy has dogged his various enterprises."