EXCLUSIVE: 'I screwed up royally': The extraordinarily frank letter disgraced CIA boss Gen David Petraeus sent to one of his closest friends

• Innermost feelings of shamed CIA director revealed in letter sent on November 20 to retired Brigadier General James Shelton
• Reveals he had created ‘enormous difficulty’ for wife Holly Petraeus but confirms that she has not kicked him out
• Brig Gen Shelton blames biographer Paula Broadwell for affair as Petraeus is the ‘innocent one when it comes to relationships’ 
• Said he believed Broadwell may have been Petraeus' only 'outlet for recreation' when they were in Afghanistan together

General David Petraeus has admitted to a close friend that he ‘screwed up royally’ over the affair with his biographer – and confirmed for the first time that his wife is standing by him.

In his most frank comments on the scandal, the former head of the CIA said that he had created ‘enormous difficulty’ for Holly Petraeus but revealed that she has not kicked him out.

In a letter Petraeus said that ‘Team Petraeus’ will survive and that he is ‘incredibly fortunate’ to be married to such a forgiving woman.

Her fault: Brig Gen Shelton blames biographer Paula Broadwell for the affair as Petraeus was the ¿innocent one when it came to relationships¿

Lucky: Brig Gen Shelton (right) revealed that Petraeus wrote in the letter that he felt 'incredibly fortunate' to be married to Holly (left) who has not thrown him out yet

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I paid the price: A mock-up of the letter and it's full text. He sign's off ATW - which is a military term meaning All The Way

He also addressed his resignation for the first time and wrote: ‘I paid the price (appropriately) and I sought to do the right thing, at the end of the day.’

The letter was sent on November 20 to Petraeus’ close friend of three decades, retired Brigadier General James Shelton, who considers himself a father figure to him.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Brig Gen Shelton blamed biographer Paula Broadwell for the affair as Petraeus was the ‘innocent one when it came to relationships’.

He also claimed that she is a ‘savvy woman’ who knows a lot more about matters of the heart than Petraeus, who has spent the bulk of his life in the military and has been married for 37 years.

Petraeus’ letter appears to confirm reports that his wife is ‘furious’ at him over his behaviour, which came to light earlier this month when in a statement admitted he had had an extra-marital affair and quit as head of the CIA.

The New York Times has reported that he has resigned himself to being ‘in the doghouse’ for at least a year and now passes the time sitting around his home emailing friends.

Petraeus, 60, and his wife spent Thanksgiving together trying to rebuild their shattered marriage and regain the trust of their two grown up children at their home in Arlington, Virginia.

Broadwell, 40, did that same with her husband Scott and their two young sons at their mansion in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The letter Petraeus sent to Brig Gen Shelton, a Vietnam Veteran who fought with the famous Black Lion Battalion, was on Four Star General letterhead and had the post mark from the PO Box in Arlington, that he uses for correspondence.

It began by thanking Brig Gen Shelton for the sending him some pictures of his own family and a note which said he still had faith in him.

It read: ‘I screwed up royally. I paid the price (appropriately) and I sought to do the right thing, at the end of the day.

‘Team Petraeus will survive though have obviously created enormous difficulty for us. Holly is however once again demonstrating how incredibly fortunate I was to marry her.’

Team Petraeus: The letter revealed that the disgraced general believes the family will survive (pictured here with Jill Kelley who is also embroiled in the scandal)

Brig Gen Shelton, who has been awarded three Bronze Stars for bravery, said that he still thinks that Petraeus is the best officer has ever seen – even if he is a love rat.

In his opinion the resignation was an ‘overreaction’ for ‘human things he got involved with’.

Brig Gen Shelton said: ‘I never knew David as being a woman chaser – he never gave a damn about anybody other than Holly.

‘It never entered my mind that he would get involved with anybody else.

‘Paula was more savvy than Dave about the nature of the things that they got involved with’.

Brig Gen Shelton explained that Broadwell interviewed him whilst doing research for her biography of Petraeus, titled: ‘All In’.

He said that she was ‘very persuasive’ and managed to get him to talk about his friend on the phone without having to meet in person.

Recreation: Broadwell may have been Petraeus' only 'outlet' during the stresses of the Afghan conflict, Brig Gen Shelton believes

Father figure: Brig Gen Shelton, left, is a Vietnam War Veteran and describes Petraeus as 'like a son'

Brig Gen Shelton, 76, said: ‘She was a beautiful woman, very intelligent and if David would say something she would know what he was talking about. 

‘They were both West Point Academy graduates, that’s what put them together. She had a lot of the qualities that he had.

‘She’s also a savvy woman. She’s not a kid. In a lot of ways I think she knows more about the world than Dave – I’m talking about sex.

‘I don’t think Dave ever thought about that too much, he only thought about the Army and gave it everything he had.

‘When he got close to her it became something new and different than what he had with his wife.

Look of love: Broadwell fell for Petraeus, says Brig Gen Shelton, because his qualities would have made her think: 'Boy! This guy... there doesn't seem to be a better man than this around'

‘I don’t believe he had any relationships with anybody else (apart from Broadwell).  

'He was the innocent one when it came to relationships. It wasn’t his bag. He was a soldier. He just wasn’t involved with it.’

Brig Gen Shelton however said that alarm bells rang in his mind when Broadwell told him that she was going to Afghanistan to ‘learn how Dave operated’.

'Savvy': Brig Gen Shelton described Broadwell as 'persuasive' and 'savvy' and that she is the one who knows about sex

Brig Gen Shelton said: ‘I thought that because he was over there (Afghanistan) she might have been the only outlet he had for any kind of recreation, if you get what I mean. 

‘He’s a human dynamo, he works all the time and she was always following him around.

‘I think Paula Broadwell was in love with him. I could see it happening.

‘I could see that he has so many qualities that any woman with any sense would say: ‘Boy! This guy – there doesn’t seem to be a better man than this around’.

Brig Gen Shelton, who lives in Cape Haze, Florida, first met Petraeus in the 1970s when they were serving together in Erzurum, Turkey when  Petraeus was a lowly second lieutenant  in the  173rd Airborne Divison. 

Brig Gen Shelton said: ‘I walked into a tent with a bottle of Ballantine whiskey that I’d stashed in my spare boots.

‘I opened it and asked if anybody wanted some, and I’m pretty sure Dave was among those who said yes, so I served it in canteen cups.

‘Even then he was so interested in what I had to say. He was asking me questions about everything – I liked the cut of his jib straight away’.

They met again when they served together in the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and stayed in touch ever since.

In one assessment of Petraeus when he was just a captain, Brig Gen Shelton described him as the ‘finest officer I have ever known’.

Brig Gen Shelton said: ‘I regard David Petraeus as one of my sons – and I have three others. I feel like a father figure to him. I served in the army for 27 years and he was the best officer bar none.

‘He is a giant of a man.’