Emma Cowing: Delivering the dirt for a princely sum

1. On Eton’s Fourth of June celebrations in 1997, he deliberately invited his nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke instead of his parents, only to go home that night and find his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in hysterical tears 2. On their last holiday together, William had a terrible row with his mother over Dodi Fayed. 3. His registrar at the University of St Andrews said he was “not the brightest student we’ve ever had”.

Now I am as nosey as the next person (nosier, truth be told, why else would I become a journalist?), but even I would draw a line at making the first two public knowledge (the third being something of a given). But these are just a few of the gossipy nuggets served up by royal insider Penny Junor in her new biography of the young Prince – Prince William: Born To Be King, a book which pushes the very boundaries of what can be acceptably described these days as biography.

It is to be presumed that Junor, a long time ally of the Prince of Wales and a staunch critic of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, wrote this book with more than a few “steers” from usefully placed sources.

In common with some of her previous books, the extracts printed so far portray the late princess as hysterical, neurotic, and unbalanced, spreading gossip about people she disliked (it was she, apparently, who started the false rumour that Legge-Bourke and Prince Charles were having an affair) and laying all of her troubles and worries on to the young William’s shoulders.

Charles meanwhile, is the stoic father, concerned only with his sons’ welfare, while the two boys come across as loveable brothers who only ever wanted the best for their father.

The general theme is nothing we haven’t heard before. It’s a bit like saying EastEnders is about some shouty Cockneys, a love triangle and dodgy pairs of earrings.

Indeed, much of the book seems like yet another excuse to stick the boot into Princess Diana, a woman who undoubtedly had many problems but who is no longer here to defend herself.

Since her death an entire mini-industry has sprung up around the woman, most of it focused on picking over the bones of her doomed love affairs, difficult relationship with the Royal Family, and her eating disorder. I don’t know about you, but just thinking about it gives me Diana fatigue.

The question over Junor’s book however, is whether it should have been published at all. Biographies for anyone under the age of 80 always seem to me a rather pointless exercise, a trend that reached its zenith in 2006 when footballer Wayne Rooney, then aged a mere 20 years was given a £5 million book advance for a five book biography deal, the first of which was published, with the gripping title My Story So Far, before his 21st birthday.

Prince William, granted, is a somewhat different prospect, given that he is the heir to the throne and has lived a privileged and sheltered life mired by tragedy at an early age. He undoubtedly has a story, albeit one that should perhaps remain untold. Yet told it has been, with a surprising amount of detail about his early years, his early reaction to Camilla Parker-Bowles and his break-up and subsequent reunion with his now wife Kate Middleton.

Junor’s book is not the only one to push the boundaries of royal acceptance this year. Last month Lady Colin Campbell published The Untold Life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, which alleges, among other things, that the Queen Mother’s real mother was a French cook employed at Glamis Castle.

It also suggests that both the Queen and Princess Margaret were conceived not naturally, but by artificial insemination.

A good biography, of course, humanises a person who seems otherwise remote, distant and untouchable. Junor’s books did that successfully for Prince Charles at a time when his popularity desperately needed a boost. Perhaps the hope is that this book will do the same for his son.

Perhaps someone is forgetting that one of the reasons William is liked (and I genuinely believe he is), is because he has retained a modicum of privacy in the face of a ferocious media desperate for every last piece of him.

In today’s publicity-driven world, it is an increasingly rare quality.