THE former Archbishop of Canterbury has allegedly described the Princess of Wales as an actress and a schemer but says he feels concerned for her future.
Lord Runcie (14) also said he knew about Prince Charles' relationship with Ms Camilla Parker Bowles before it became public.
Lord Runcie, who married the couple at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981, said he believed it was an arranged marriage about which the prince was very depressed.
In a series of taped interviews for a biography serialised in the Times newspaper yesterday, the former archbishop said he saw early cracks in the royal marriage well before they became public.
Speaking about Princess Diana's grandmother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, he said "Ruth was very distressed with Diana's behaviour ... She [Ruth] was totally and wholly a Charles person ... and regarded Diana as an actress, a schemer all of which is true, of course.
"I don't know what will become of her. Sad really, and I feel a desire to support her."
He recalled meeting the couple with his chaplain, Rev Richard Chartres, now Bishop of London, to discuss their wedding arrangements. "Richard said to me He's [Charles] seriously depressed. You can tell from his voice."
"We thought it was an arranged marriage but my view was, `They're a nice couple and she'll grow into it'."
Lord Runcie said he knew about the prince's relationship with Ms Parker Bowles blamed by many Britons in part for the marital breakup and added. "That was what worried Ruth Fermoy, about his needing a woman to love and be cared for by. And also that Diana would never be under control until she fell in love with someone."
Lord Runcie has expressed unhappiness about what he calls private comments finding their way into the biography.
The book, The Reluctant Archbishop, by Humphrey Carpenter to be published later in the year, contains a note from him saying "I have done my best to die before this book is published."
In a damaging section about Prince Charles and his role as future king and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, he said the prince was "disenchanted" with the church. "It would quite help if he loved the Church of England a bit more ... I think he'd given up on the Church of England before I arrived."
. Ms Parker Bowles will not marry the prince despite the end of his marriage, the Sun newspaper says today. She had come to the reluctant conclusion after a series of heart to heart meetings with the prince, the paper says.