The War of the Windsors continued on two fronts over the weekend.
In Washington, Princess Diana charmed the famous and powerful - turning what was billed as a private visit into a public reminder of her drawing power.
In Britain, the second excerpt of Prince Charles' upcoming authorized biography - viewed as his attempt to demythologize Di and gain sympathy - offered up more scandal fodder.
The excepts from Jonathan Dimbleby's The Prince of Wales, in London's Sunday Times, said Charles, not Di, asked for a separation in 1992 after she made their two sons unavailable when he wanted to see them.
Dimbleby quotes Charles' diary from those days: "I want to do my duty in the way I've been trained . . . I feel so unsuited to the ghastly business of human intrigue and general nastiness."
The excerpts also call Camilla Parker Bowles the love of Charles' life, saying he bade his old girlfriend farewell when he wed, but rekindled the affair when his marriage seemed over.
On a lighter note, the bio details Charles' visits to bordellos with Navy shipmates, calling a prostitute's hand on his thigh "another of life's essential experiences," but hastening to add that he didn't stay for more.
He tells of two blond bombshells in Hawaii aiming to get him high on marijuana. "But I refused to try it," Charles wrote, telling them he "had no need of artificial stimulation." He left "rather reluctantly, because they were great fun."
Meanwhile, British opinion of the prince - which rose after he took the unusual step of confessing to adultery - is swinging the other way. Surveys and editorials find many questioning Charles' fitness to rule.
Still, the Labor Party issued a statement reiterating its support for the institution of monarchy and 80% of Church of England vicars said they felt Charles should still become king.
