This book was born out of an explosion of anger from a friend about Prince Charles’s enthusiasm for complementary medicine. ‘You should write a proper book about Charles,’ she urged. The result is not what she imagined, but then it is also not what I anticipated. At the outset I assumed that since there were so many biographies of the prince, there was little new to write. I was encouraged to ignore the existing library by Tony Holden, a superb journalist and early biographer of Charles. ‘There’s an untold story,’ he said. Still uncertain, I contacted Richard Kay, the doyen of royal journalists and, as I knew, among the most kind and generous of our trade. Kay added to Tony Holden’s enthusiasm. Thereafter, I encountered help from many people – former employees of the royal family, public servants, employees of Charles’s charities, politicians, lawyers and Charles’s friends – who generously gave me remarkable help over many months. For obvious reasons, many spoke off the record, and would not want to be individually mentioned. Others, it will be clear from the text, spoke on the record but do not want to be individually thanked.
In writing the book, I was particularly helped by Claudia Wordsworth, an outstanding researcher upon whom I have come to rely.
Rupert Earle and David Hirst were the assiduous libel lawyers.
I am hugely indebted to Richard Cohen, a proven friend, for his inspired editing over an intensive period, and then to Robert Lacey at HarperCollins for his meticulous completion of the manuscript. Also at HarperCollins, I am grateful to Arabella Pike, my editor, to my publicist Katherine Patrick, and to Lottie Fyfe for the photo research. Throughout, I was supported as always by Jonathan Lloyd, my agent at Curtis Brown.
Finally, nothing is possible without the support of my wife, Veronica, the best and most generous friend.