Charles 'supported Australian republic'

LONDON - Prince Charles secretly confided he believed Australia should split from Britain and become a republic while touring there 32 years ago, a new book claims.

The autobiography claims the heir to the British throne told a dinner party in Sydney in 1977 that he did not understand "why Australia bothered with us - we really are yesterday's news".

The Sunday Express newspaper said entertainment mogul Harry M. Miller reveals in his autobiography details of the Prince's gaffe.

It also tells how Charles allegedly bedded several Australian women while on tour.

"I distinctly remember one dinner party we had in his honour, when Prince Charles and Michael Kirby [a former Australian High Court judge] were discussing the monarchy," according to extracts printed by the newspaper.

"Charles' line of argument was he couldn't understand why Australia bothered with us - we really are yesterday's news."

Miller told the newspaper he remembered the Prince being quite strident in his views about an Australian republic.

"What he was saying was that Australia should be a republic and it was really bullshit to be kow-towing to the British monarchy," Miller said.

A spokesman at Clarence House, the Prince's official residence in London, downplayed Miller's account.

"We do not comment on private conversations that may or may not have happened but these words do not ring true at all as having been said by the Prince," the spokesman said.

"They do not in any way reflect His Royal Highness's views on Australia."

Miller also claims in his book, Confessions of a Not-So-Secret Agent, that Charles entertained several women, including the daughter of a prominent Australian politician, during his visit.

"He had a lot of fun during that visit - and he even used my house in Centennial Park to entertain a handful of young women, including his friend Lady Dale Kanga Tryon and the very pretty daughter of a well-known NSW politician, whose name I best not reveal," Miller wrote.

"The reason Charles spent so much time at my house during his stay was because he couldn't stand NSW Government House.

"Apparently none of the royals liked it because it had more protocol and stuffiness than Buckingham Palace."

New Zealand-born Miller grew up in Grey Lynn and moved to Australia in 1963.

- AAP