LONDON, April 3, 2008 (AFP) - The crown prince of Bahrain has written to Max Mosley, president of world motorsport´s governing body (FIA), to urge him not to attend this weekend´s Bahrain Grand Prix over lurid claims about his private life, The Times reported on Thursday.

Mosley was pictured in a British Sunday newspaper allegedly participating in an orgy with prostitutes dressed as Nazi guards, and has said that he would stay away from the race not because he was asked but so as he could mend fences with his family.

"With great regret I feel that under the current circumstances, it would be inappropriate for you to be in Bahrain at this time," Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa wrote, according to The Times.

Also in the letter, the sheikh added that "of paramount importance is the success of the event for all concerned -- the Kingdom of Bahrain, Formula One and spectators. The focus quite rightly should be on the race."

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, a close friend of Mosley, has also warned him off going to the Bahrain Grand Prix, telling Tuesday´s edition of The Times that Mosley would "take all the ink away from the race and put it on something which, honestly and truly, is nobody else´s business anyway."

Mosley, who has said he will take legal action against the perpetrators of the covert action, apologised in a statement on Tuesday for any embarrassment caused to the FIA and its members. He has insisted he will not resign.