Charles' Love Letters Show a Frisky Sailor

His personal life may now have all the sex appeal of tea in tweed, but once upon a time Prince Charles was a randy sailor writing risque letters to "exciting ladies (who) lurk behind bushes in order to pounce on unsuspecting naval officers … !" Six such letters, believed to have been written to a secretary at a British consulate in the late '70s, are up for auction on eBay starting at $30,000, the Guardian reports.

The correspondence show Charles as a playful, flirtatious naval officer—albeit one whose eventual nuptuals weighed on him. "Making a mistake is, frankly, something which concerns me enormously and I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each Commonwealth country is the best one!" the prince joked in one letter.