Palace: New Bio "Contemptible"

By Lucy Maher

08/16/2001 at 07:20 PM EDT

Buckingham Palace is steaming over a new book that portrays Prince William as a womanizing Casanova, the Associated Press reports. The New York Post reported Tuesday on the publication of "Diana's Boys: William and Harry and The Mother They Loved," by former PEOPLE writer and popular biographer Christopher Andersen. The Post said that the book alleges that Prince William, 19, has a "growing reputation" as "a one-man wrecking crew among the girls," and that there was much "bed-hopping going on" when he lived as a charity worker in Chile recently. The Palace has called the book "utterly contemptible" and a spokeswoman said it contained "allegations (that) are without foundation." Details about the book's claims haven't surfaced in Britain and the publisher, William Morrow, said it has no plans to publish the book there. This is not the first time Andersen has raised the ire of the British royal family. In his 1998 book, "The Day Diana Died," he claimed that the family was callous in their reaction to Diana's death.