A number of the prince's friends and advisers have been interviewed for the documentary - Charles: A Life in Waiting - which will be shown on BBC1 on Monday night.

The programme makers say that the prince is exasperated with attention on on his private life and does not believe he has to define his relationship with long-time friend Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Panorama will also reveal that the Queen is opposed to them marrying and that she believes the public will never accept a Queen Camilla or Charles as king with Camilla as his wife.

It will report that Buckingham Palace officials say the Queen will never abdicate, and that the prince is not ready to become king because he needs time to resolve certain aspects of his life.

They are also reported as saying the prince dismisses any slimming down of the monarchy but does believe he can bring a new informality to the role.

Abdication row

The screening comes amid more controversy over the LWT documentary Charles at 50, which maintains that the prince said he wanted the Queen to abdicate.

Prince Charles said abdication claims were 'ludicrous'

The TV company is standing by its story despite a strongly-worded statement from Prince Charles who said it would be "ludicrous" to believe the "outrageous and hurtful" claims made in the LWT documentary due to be broadcast on Sunday.

LWT said four briefings had been held with the Buckingham Palace official and all the main topics of the programme, including abdication, were discussed and approved.

Prince's teacher speaks out

Following the prince's angry rebuttal, the BBC said about its own programme: "In an authoritative interview conducted after revelations about the LWT programme and sanctioned by the prince himself, Panorama speaks to Eric Anderson.

"Dr Anderson taught the prince at Gordonstoun. Dr Anderson has been a friend and mentor to the prince throughout his life."

For the first time the programme also filmed an investiture carried out by the prince in Buckingham Palace on 30 October, which shows him granting a knighthood.

Panorama features behind-the-scenes footage of the prince at the summer's Party in the Park for the Prince's Trust, shots of his conference centre at his Highgrove home and filming of his Duchy farms.

Panorama Editor Peter Horrocks said: "The BBC has a responsibility to produce a credible and well-informed portrait of the future monarch at 50."

He added: "Through the exclusive filming we have done and the interviews with close friends and officials, Panorama will be broadcasting a portrait of the Prince of Wales that is properly balanced and extremely authoritative."

'Scarred by these brutal criticisms'

Chris Patten, one of Prince Charles's close friends, spoke to Panorama about the effect of media scrutiny.

"He's been scarred by these brutal, unfair criticisms and he's had to endure more than almost any human being," he said.

Charles's adviser Jonathon Porritt said that what the prince has gone through "is part and parcel of making him, if anything, perhaps better equipped to do those tasks than he might have been otherwise".