London, Mar 21 : Love letters said to have written by Prince Charles to a former lover have sold for more than 20,000 pounds on eBay.

The letters, which disclose Prince of Wales' fears of marrying the wrong woman, were bought by an anonymous buyer.

The buyer paid 20,800 pounds for six letters written by the Prince to a Canadian girlfriend in the 1970s and 1980.

One, written the year before his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer, is signed "with much love, Charles" and outlines his private secretary's horror at "the idea of ladies in hotel rooms during foreign visits".

The letters were received by Welsh-born Janet Jenkins, who was working at the British Consulate in Montreal in 1975, when she met the Prince.

She told Canadian television recently that she had expected the correspondence to end up in a museum.

"I was surprised to discover that they are back on eBay. I hope nobody buys them," The Times quoted her, as saying.

Several years ago, Jenkins had sold the letters to Alicia Carroll, a Los Angeles-based royal memorabilia collector.

Carroll posted the romantic notes on eBay in 2005, with a starting bid of 34,000 pounds, but was unable to find a buyer. When her firm went bankrupt earlier this month she placed the letters back on the Internet.

In the letters Prince Charles talks of marriage and divorce and his fears of marrying the wrong woman.

He writes: "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 Commonwealth country is the best one." (ANI)