Charles agonised over wedding to Diana

Prince Charles agonised over whether to call off his wedding to Diana, the Daily Mail has revealed.

Despite realising that they were incompatible, he felt powerless to do anything about it.

Breaking off the engagement “would have been cataclysmic”, he said. And he described himself as being “permanently between the devil and deep blue sea”.

Years later and still troubled by the tragedy of the marriage, he wept tears of frustration as he told friends: “I desperately wanted to get out of the wedding in 1981, when during the engagement I discovered just how awful the prospects were.”

The story of his anguish over the doomed marriage is told in an explosive new royal biography to mark his landmark 70th birthday next month.

Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes And Dreams reveals Charles wants to challenge “pernicious lies” about him — which he believes were orchestrated by Diana.

Veteran royal correspondent Robert Jobson, the book’s author, has accompanied the prince for 18 months on tours around the world.

Jobson has reported on the royals for almost three decades. The result is a compelling book full of groundbreaking new material.

Charles emerges as a contented figure, who is far from bitter but has strong views on some of the most vital issues facing us today.

But the revelation about his heartache over Diana is bound to raise eyebrows.