What Prince Charles joked to pal when looking for bride... SHALL I GO GAY?
PRINCE Charles was once so unimpressed by his choice of p potential brides he jokingly asked friends: “Shall I go gay?”
The royal revelation comes in a new Channel 5 documentary by Jeremy Paxman that lifts the lid on the intimate lives of the heir to the throne and his siblings – Anne, Andrew and Edward.
In Paxman On The Queen’s Children, the University Challenge host interviews friends and insiders about the royal four.
One of Charles’ pals, Broderick Munro-wilson, reveals neither the heir to the throne nor his sister were “shrinking violets”.
Discussing an old newspaper story about “potential brides” in Europe for the prince, he tells Paxman: “I thought the only possibility was Caroline of Monaco.”
But he recalls Charles – once known as the Playboy Prince – was not tempted by any and asked: “Shall I go gay?”
Broderick says: “We all roared with laughter and moved on... They had a lot of fun.”
Paxman asks: “Anne too?”
Broderick replies: “She wasn’t a stuffy old t hing. I wouldn’t want anyone to think they were shrinking violets, either of them.”
Prince Andrew’s early love life does not escape attention. Paxman reveals a recording by a 14-year-old Coleen Nolan, who serenades the royal with the words, “Andy, I love you.”
And Prince Edward is bound to cringe at clips of his disastrous It’s a Royal Knockout. Toyah Wilcox, who took part in the 1987 TV show, tells Paxman the press took against it after Edward forced them to stay in a tent.
Former Newsnight presenter Paxman, 68, used to be a republican but declares himself “a monarchist” in his two-part documentary.
He has written two books on the royals, once enjoyed “lunch a deux” with Charles’ first wife Princess Diana and caused a royal storm after spending a weekend at Sandringham as a guest of the prince.
He claimed Charles, 70, was served seven boiled eggs each morning but chose just one to eat. However the claims were strenuously denied.
Paxman on the Queen’s Children, Channel 5, Tuesday, 9pm