07 March,2009 01:23 PM IST | | Agencies
Six love letters written by a young Prince Charles to a woman in Canada three decades ago have been put up for sale on Internet auction site eBay.
Alicia Carroll, who runs Los Angeles-based royal memorabilia dealership Everything Royal, said the heir to the British throne had written the letters to Montreal-based Janet Jenkins between 1976 and 1980.
The letters, which are being sold for $30,000, were bought by Carroll in 2002 when she was contacted by Jenkins, who worked at the British Consulate in Montreal when she met the young prince.
In one letter dated June 8, 1980 -- only eight months before Charles announced his engagement to the future Princess Diana -- Charles wrote of the pressures of having to find a bride.
"I can see that I shall just have to get married as soon as possible and then all these people might relax a little ...! I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each commonwealth country is the best one," he said.
"Don't worry -- whatever happens I will make sure you are given early warning," he writes, signing off "with much love, Charles."
Carroll said the letters were historically significant because they were from "a man who is going to be the king of England."
"There's nothing salacious in them. They're 30-year-old letters written by a man enamored with a young lady," Carroll said. "There's nothing provocative in them. They're just romantic letters from a man to his girlfriend."
Carroll said she has had "four or five" offers for the letters but says she will take them off the market if no bidder meets the asking price.
But she rejected criticism from the former owner of the letters, who told Canadian television Friday she had expected the correspondence to end up in a museum.
"I was surprised to discover this morning they are back on eBay," Jenkins said. "I hope nobody buys them, actually."
Carroll dismissed Jenkins's comments.
"I bought them directly from her," Carroll said. "I'm sorry she's embarrassed they're up for sale. I've had them seven years and I'm a businesswoman and she knew they were for resale.
"If she's embarrassed why would she want the letters in a museum where millions of people could go daily and read them? It would be better to see them sold to a private collector."
