Prince Charles' 'Rebel Prince' Biography Has Recurring Theme Of 'Self-Pity,' Reviewer Says

Prince Charles' new biography is filled with self-pity.

Book reviewer Ysenda Maxtone Graham took the time to read Tom Bower's "Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of Prince Charles." According to her, it was not an easy read although there were readable passages. In addition, it has "a recurring theme is Charles's self-pity; he is 'an Olympian whinger.'"

Sarah Sands also felt that Paul Burrell described Prince Charles in the same way in his book "A Royal Duty." "Prince Charles does not emerge from Burrell's book as an attractive figure," Sands wrote in The Telegraph in 2004. "He is irritable, self-pitying and spoilt." According to Lynda Lee-Potter, Prince Charles is "prone to depression, angst and self-pity."

According to Graham, the publication "paints the heir to the throne as utterly out of touch and 'addicted to luxury.'" In Bower's book, he wrote that the Prince of Wales has outrageous travel demands.

Prince Charles reportedly wanted to move his entire bedroom when he visited a friend in northeast England. He sent a truck carrying furniture to the destination a day earlier "to replace the perfectly appropriate fittings in the guest room."

Bower added that Camilla Parker Bowles has her own requirements during her trips too. The Duchess of Cornwall is fond of chartered jets, extra security and chauffeur-driven cars.

However, Prince Charles and Camilla just laughed off the claims in "Rebel Book." "Calling him a pampered prince is one thing but some of the more ludicrous claims in the book have had Charles and Camilla in stitches," an insider said. "They were in hysterics over the idea that retired Asian servants are employed to handpick slugs from plants in the middle of the night. And the suggestion about horizontal hand-weeding at Highgrove... it's a 900-acre estate, for heaven's sake."

"It's bewilderingly convoluted," Graham added about Bower's book. "Everyone is plotting against, or unhealthily mutually dependent on someone else. On every page someone is livid, irate, irritated, freaked out, shell-shocked or exasperated. On the next page they retaliate, refuse, defy or disregard. The prince seems to live in a constant state of exasperation and doesn't get on at all well with his parents, his siblings, his staff, or his sons."

Have you read Bower's "Rebel Prince" biography about Prince Charles? What can you say about it?