LONDON — British Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip has written a letter of apology to Prince Charles over reports he described his son as unfit to become king, newspapers reported Monday.
Philip said that he had never made the comments published in a newspaper article in which he was reported to have said the heir-to-the-throne was too "precious" and "extravagant" to be king.
In an attempt to heal a growing rift between the two men, the 79-year-old Philip also telephoned his son to reassure him that he had not authorized his friends or associates to make the damaging comments on his behalf either, the British newspapers said.
Charles was said to have accepted his father's apology.
"He accepts if these things were said they were said so by people who do not have genuine access to (Philip)," the Times quoted an unnamed senior aide to Charles as saying.
"We accept that the remarks were intended to provoke trouble. We regard the matter as closed."
The views attributed to Philip appeared in a 10,000-word story written by journalist Graham Turner in the Daily Telegraph to mark the prince's 80th birthday next month.
The differences between the blunt Philip and his sensitive eldest child have long been discussed in Britain.
In an authorized biography written by Jonathan Dimbleby, Charles portrayed his father as a bully who pressured him into marriage with the late Princess Diana.