Six love letters written by a young Prince Charles to a woman in Canada three decades ago have been put up for sale on Internet auction¹ site eBay, the seller told reporters Friday.

Alicia Carroll, who runs Los Angeles-based royal memorabilia dealership² Everything Royal, said the heir to the British throne had written the letters to Montreal-based Janet Jenkins between 1976 and 1980.

The letters, which are being sold for 30,000 dollars, were bought by Carroll in 2002 when she was contacted by Jenkins, who worked at the British Consulate³ in Montreal when she met the young prince.

In one letter dated June 8, 1980 -- only eight months before Charles announced his engagement to the future Princess Diana -- Charles wrote of the pressures of having to find a bride.

"I can see that I shall just have to get married as soon as possible and then all these people might relax a little ...! I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each commonwealth⁴ country is the best one," he said.

"Don't worry -- whatever happens I will make sure you are given early warning," he writes, signing off "with much love, Charles."

Carroll told the reporters that the letters were historically significant because they were from "a man who is going to be the king of England."

"There's nothing salacious in them. They're 30-year-old letters written by a man enamored with a young lady," Carroll said. "There's nothing provocative⁵ in them. They're just romantic letters from a man to his girlfriend."

Carroll said she has had "four or five" offers for the letters but says she will take them off the market if no bidder⁶ meets the asking price.

But she rejected criticism from the former owner of the letters, who told Canadian television Friday she had expected the correspondence to end up in a museum.

"I was surprised to discover this morning they are back on eBay," Jenkins said. "I hope nobody buys them, actually."

Carroll dismissed Jenkins's comments.

"I bought them directly from her," Carroll said. "I'm sorry she's embarrassed they're up for sale. I've had them seven years and I'm a businesswoman and she knew they were for resale.

"If she's embarrassed why would she want the letters in a museum where millions of people could go daily and read them? It would be better to see them sold to a private collector."

据悉，英国王储查尔斯30年前写给一名加拿大女子的六封情书近日在eBay网上被拍卖。

据情书卖家、来自洛杉矶“Everything Royal”皇家纪念品销售行的老板艾丽西娅•卡罗尔介绍，英国王位继承人、查尔斯王储于1976年至1980年间写就的这六封情书是给加拿大蒙特利尔姑娘珍妮特•詹金斯的。

卡罗尔于2002年从詹金斯处购得这些情书，眼下这些情书在网上的卖价达3万美元。当年詹金斯结识年轻的查尔斯时正在英国驻蒙特利尔总领事馆工作。

在1980年6月8日的一封情书中，查尔斯倾诉了自己必须结婚的压力，此时距查尔斯宣布与戴安娜王妃订婚仅有八个月的时间。

查尔斯在信中写道：“我很清楚我必须得尽快结婚，只有这样才能让所有人都松口气……我还是觉得我的方案最好，那就是从每个英联邦国家各娶一个姑娘。”

他写道：“不必担心，不管发生什么，我都会第一时间通知你”，落款是“非常爱你的查尔斯“。

卡罗尔告诉记者，这些信非常具有历史意义，因为它们出自“未来的英国国王”之笔。

卡罗尔说：“信中没有任何低俗的内容，只是一个30岁的年轻人写给心上人的信，也没有挑逗性的内容，只是小伙子写给心爱姑娘的浪漫情书。”

卡罗尔称目前已有“四五个”竞拍者，但如果没有人出到报价的水平，她将撤拍。

但她反驳了来自情书前主人的批评言论。詹金斯于上周五接受加拿大电视台采访时称，她原本期望这些情书能被博物馆收藏。

詹金斯说：“今天早晨我发现情书在ebay上被拍卖时非常惊讶。我真希望没有人买。”

卡罗尔反驳了詹金斯的言论。

卡罗尔说：“我直接从她那里买得情书。我很抱歉拍卖情书令她难堪。我收藏这封情书已有七年的时间了，我是个商人，她应该知道这些情书还会被出售。”

“如果她感到难堪，为什么还想让那么多的人每天去博物馆参观浏览那些情书呢？那还不如卖给私人收藏者。”

Vocabulary:

salacious:appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious（ 淫荡的，好色的）