ROMANCE NOVELIST HOLDS DI TO BLAME FOR BREAKUP

Prolific romance novelist Dame Barbara Cartland has some unkind words for her step-granddaughter, Princess Diana. Cart-land says Di is to blame for the breakup of her marriage to Prince Charles. Diana has "never really understood men," her step-granny told the International Express newspaper. Cartland also dismissed Charles's alleged affair with Camilla Parker Bowles as "a fuss about nothing." Charles and Diana were married nearly 12 years before they separated, explained Cartland, and "if, after 10 years, you haven't got your man at your feet, then you have lost him. What Diana didn't realize is that an Englishman, be he future king or not, has to be flattered if a wife is to bring out the best in him." It's not likely that Diana will be unduly cast down by Dame Barbara's criticisms. The novelist is the mother of Diana's stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer - who is so unpopular with her stepchildren that they are said to call her "Acid Raine."