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LONDON -- Buckingham Palace and lawyers for Prince Charles and Princess Diana acted in concert Tuesday to quell rampant speculation that the feuding couple are heading for a divorce that could further shake the monarchy.
In a statement released after a French magazine claimed the pair would end their marriage next March and Diana would receive a $25 million settlement, the palace said: "As was stated quite clearly when their separation was announced in December 1992, the prince and princess had no plans to divorce. That remains the position."
Lawyers for the couple were also quick to squash the report in the brash Paris weekly Voici, quoting what it claimed were excerpts from a new biography of Diana. There was "no truth" in it, the lawyers said in an increasingly rare display of unity by the warring couple.
Diana is quoted as saying she felt used and abused by the royal palace. One excerpt from the book said the princess compared her royal role to that of a "prostitute."
But despite the denials, politicians, royal watchers and some lawmakers wondered how the couple who married in 1981 and separated 11 years later could settle their differences after this week's revelations.
"The main issue is not just the divorce or the constitution it is the fact that Prince Charles has himself destroyed the love and respect that many people in this country had for him," Labour politician Paul Flynn told BBC television. "And I don't think that divorced or not divorced he can become king."
On Sunday, excerpts from a forthcoming authorized biography of Charles claimed he was forced into marrying her by his domineering father, the Duke of Edinburgh. Charles said the marriage was loveless, a Greek tragedy for all concerned.
Voici said all of the divorce details were included in Andrew Morton's new book "Diana: Her New Life" due to be published on November 15.
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