Charles and Camilla Suffer Real Damage After Diana Documentary

A biographer of Prince Charles, Sally Bettlesmith, has claimed that the recent airing of a Channel 4 documentary featuring interviews with Princess Diana has caused real damage to the reputation of the prince and his wife Camilla.

The documentary, which featured interviews with Diana's voice coach Peter Sattlin, was aired at the height of her marriage problems in the early 1990s.

Bettlesmith argues that too much of what Diana said has been taken at face value, and amplified online through her voice and image from beyond the grave.

Bettlesmith went on to suggest that Diana could be an unreliable narrator, and that she was often vengeful.

She added that while Charles is hardly a saint, the coverage of the so-called War of the Whales has inflicted real damage on him and Camilla.

Poll numbers have plummeted, and Republicans have exploited the accusatory mood to question his fitness to be king.

One source close to the royal couple described this summer as Charles's esthus horribulous, in contrast to the Queen's anus horribulous in 1992.

He has been a ghost in the Diana commemorations, constrained from comment lest he seem like a cat.

It will doubtless take some time for him to recover.

Another source, however, expressed confidence that they will weather the storm, as they have done before.

In her biography, “Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life,” Bettlesmith claimed that Charles's role as a father had often been put into the shade by Diana.

One example she cited was when Diana was photographed hugging Prince William and Harry on the Royal Yacht Britannia in Canada in 1991.

By then, Diana had mastered the art of creating a narrative through images for the cameras.

The boys were waiting with their nanny on the deck of the Britannia for their parents to return from their engagements.

The limousine had scarcely come to a stop when Diana popped out, caught sight of the boys, and strode with determination up the gangplank, leaving Charles far behind.

After a cursory handshake with one of the Royal Navy officers, she broke into a run, beamed an incandescent smile, and outstretched her arms.

She scooped up William, then Harry, in unroyal bear hugs amid blinding camera flashes.

Charles arrived seconds later and leaned down to give his son tugs and kisses, partly obscured from the cameras by Diana's back.

His gestures were restrained, but no less loving than his wife's.

The author claimed that Charles's measured tread was then compared unfavorably with Diana's warmth.

Although the British press only ran the Diana photos, foreign publications used the Charles shots, with one headline in a Canadian newspaper reading, “Abroad Britannia, Charles Forgets Protocol for Tenderness.”