Free Diana's Nightmare - The Family by Chris Hutchins, Peter Thompson

turned into a ladies' man of a different kind and gravitated towards men with whom he felt comfortable. Many of them were either bisexual or homosexual, like Stephen Barry, the man chosen as Charles's valet.
    Mountbatten knew it was vital for Charles to marry well but before his marriage he encouraged him to experiment sexually with girls from the upper classes. Stephen Barry confirmed privately that his master led an active sex life, but said publicly: in all those twelve years that I worked for him, if he was meant to be in his bed in the morning when I went in to wake him up, he was in bed - alone.'
    Charles's key adviser is Commander Richard Aylard, who replaced Sir Christopher Airey, becoming his fifth Private Secretary since 1978. Airey's departure was announced after an embarrassing mix-up showed the lack of co-operation between Charles and his wife. The Prince made a speech on education on the same day that Diana spoke about the AIDS issue, one cancelling out the other in terms of publicity. Charles was furious and Sir Christopher tendered his resignation after barely a year in the post. He declined to elaborate on the real reasons.
    One departing aide told friends: 'The man (Charles) is totally disorganised. I used to sit in the corridor for three hours just waiting for him.' 'Charles is very difficult to advise because he takes advice from every other crank who pins him up against the wall,' said another disgruntled insider. 'However, he never sacks anyone. He simply freezes them out.' The truth was that it had taken Charles some time to assemble a team of like-minded advisers around him at St James's Palace. He encouraged them to stop looking over their shoulder at Head Office, as Buckingham Palace is known.
    After the Warrington fiasco, Charles reassessed the situation with those closest to him. One of his strategists explained that Charles no longer saw himself as competing with the Princess of Wales. Rather, their roles were considered to be complementary. 'Richard Aylard shares an office with Patrick Jephson and they work closely together trying to make sure that they aren't both making major speeches on the same day or going to the same part of the country,' he said. 'They are trying to get the best value from their separate programmes.
    'Charles is an extremely robust individual and, of course, he's used to being under pressure, but he's certainly putting a great deal into his work now as he always has. His approach to his work and his very real understanding of his role has developed over a number of years. The Prince is not someone who believes in short-term, quick-fix solutions to achieve popularity. What is important is the long-term worth of what he is doing. Even if he were attracted to the quick-fix solution, he's got all this very worthwhile work going on with the Prince's Trust and the Youth Business Trust, which has created 25,000 jobs so far. He's very committed to that kind of work. He's not going to give up those things. In the same way, he's established a very good modus operandi for his foreign tours. He undertakes tours such as the ones to Mexico, Poland and Bosnia on the advice of the Foreign Office - he goes wherever they feel he can do most good. He wants to do everything he can to help what he calls Great Britain plc. Clearly the concentration on his private life had been unhelpful and a distraction from his work. But he wouldn't say he was at a crossroads at all.'
    When things bother him, Charles turns to dangerous sports, particularly polo. 'Polo helps keep me sane,' he said, it's the only team sport I play.' His exertions in the saddle show that he is a highly competitive player. He plays to win even if it hurts. An old back problem struck him after only twelve minutes into a game at Windsor on 13 June, 1993, after he tried to turn his pony one way and it insisted on going the other. Charles stormed off the field, crashed his polo helmet to the ground and told worried aides who advised