"I desperately wanted to get out of the wedding": Prince Charles knew his marriage to Diana was a "massive" mistake

Prince Charles, who proposed on February 3, 1981, and later married Princess Diana, reportedly admitted that he regretted the marriage, considering it a "massive mistake" and even mulled calling it off, according to an explosive new book on the British royal scion, who will soon turn seventy.

According to 'Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes And Dreams' by Robert Jobson, years later 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."

According to the unauthorized biography, the future king also admitted that he had let Princess Diana, as well as the other members of the royal family down by going ahead with the "doomed" wedding, reports the Mirror. Despite realising his incompatability with Diana, Charles felt powerless to do anything about it as breaking off the engagement "would have been cataclysmic."

According to the book, Charles admitted to having overwhelming doubts about his wedding to Diana, which at one point even reduced him to tears.

These shocking revelations were made by Jobson, a royal reporter for nearly three decades, and who spent more than 18 months accompanying Charles on official tours around the world.

Now, in his book, Jobson says that Charles felt that marrying Diana was "like a call to duty." The couple got married at St Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981, and divorced on August 28, 1996, just one year before the princess died.

According to Jobson, Prince Charles had alarm bells ringing in his head about his upcoming wedding with Diana during the few meetings they had before tying the knot. He realized that Diana and he did not really share the same level of compatibility when she burst into tears and would 'stare blankly' at him when he spoke of what he had done during the day.

Jobson writes that the more Charles met Diana, the faster he began to realize what a terrible mistake he had done. The author also made claims that the prince found Diana's "alarming and irrational mood swings and temper impossible to deal with".

Charles is said to have told pals: "I desperately wanted to get out of the wedding in 1981, when during the engagement I discovered just how awful the prospects were, having had no chance whatsoever to get to know Diana beforehand." 

However, despite it all, Charles proceeded to tie the knot with Diana in a ceremony watched by over 750 million people. The decision is something he still regrets, and Jobson came to know of it through conversations with the prince, people close to him, and inside sources. Diana too seemed to have her doubts about her wedding to Charles, given that the couple had only met on 12 occasions before marrying.

As for Charles' disciplinarian father, Prince Philip, he is said to have expressed concerns over the relationship and told son Charles to either "marry Diana or leave her".