Newspaper report- Former lover would give princess's letters t

LONDON -- Princess Diana's one-time lover is willing to give love letters from her to Prince Charles if the heir to the throne asks for them in a "civilized and respectful way," a newspaper reported today.

Vilified in Britain for once trying to sell the letters for a reported $16 million, James Hewitt now is offering to hand the letters over to the prince for free, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

"Were I to be invited by the prince for tea and given the opportunity to discuss this matter in a reasoned way, I would of course be willing to respond," the newspaper quoted Hewitt as saying.

Hewitt has taken a beating in Britain's tabloids recently for allowing excerpts of her letters to be aired in a TV documentary next week.

In the documentary, "James Hewitt: Confessions of a Cad," the paunchy, 45-year-old ex-army major listens as his lawyer, Michael Coleman, reads extracts of the letters.

In the documentary, Hewitt also makes crude comments about Diana and his success with other women.

"Cad. Rat. Slimeball. Disgrace. Snake. ... None of these words comes even close to summing up this disgusting creature," Diana's former butler and confidant, Paul Burrell, wrote in his column in the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The affair between Hewitt and Diana began when he gave her riding lessons but soured by the time he cooperated in a 1994 book about the liaison, "Princess in Love."

In a now-famous 1995 Panorama interview given two years before her death at age 36 in a Paris car crash, Diana said she had "adored him" but he had let her down.