King Charles decided not to meet his son Prince Harry in London this week because of Harry’s “cruel” remarks about his wife, Queen Camilla, in his memoir, Spare, a friend of Charles and Camilla has told The Daily Beast.
Observers had thought that father and son could have met today, Wednesday, especially as both had events within just a couple of miles of each other—a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games for Harry, and the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year for Charles. But Harry released a statement saying Charles was too busy to see him, with the palace a couple of hours later saying Charles was making Prince William the head of Harry’s old regiment. Harry’s U.K. trip has fast become a snub pile-up.
In Spare, Harry said Camilla “sacrificed me on her personal PR altar,” and described her as “dangerous.”
In remarks to Anderson Cooper on the show 60 Minutes to promote the book, which is estimated to have made Harry some $27 million, Harry said: “With a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street.”
He also described his stepmother as a “villain” and the “third person in the marriage,” echoing his mother’s controversial interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, when Diana said there were “three of us in the marriage.”
“Harry has made things very difficult for himself by saying such cruel and hurtful things about Camilla,” the friend told The Daily Beast. “Charles loves his sons, but he also loves his wife. The last few months have made it very clear how important she is; she has been the one propping up the whole edifice.
“Harry has made it very clear, very publicly, that he despises her. He has forced Charles to choose, which was a very silly thing to do because Camilla and he both chose each other a long time ago.
“William had his reservations but he accepted his father’s choice and got on with it. Harry made a different decision, and one of the inevitable consequences of publicly calling your stepmother cruel names is that it becomes difficult for you to see your father.”
Another source, a friend of William and Kate’s, quipped: “It is hardly surprising that Charles didn’t invite Harry round for tea and a scone. He did, after all, portray his wife as an evil, calculating, bitch in the biggest selling book since the Bible.” [In fact, Spare broke records for being the fastest-selling non-fiction book but it is not, yet at least, certified as the biggest selling non-fiction book of all time.]
Another source, a former Buckingham Palace staffer, said, “As far as the palace is concerned, the further away that Harry and Meghan are from Buckingham Palace the better. Look how distracting Harry’s visit has been this week. The media should be talking about the king’s return to work, instead we are talking about a 39 year old man’s daddy issues. If Harry thinks he can drop in for a cuppa at Clarence House whenever he happens to be changing planes in London, that would encourage him to come here more often, which is the exact opposite of what the institution typically wants from exiled family members. The whole point of being exiled is that you are out of sight and out of mind.”
The courtier also said that Harry’s statement saying his father had declined to meet him was “childish.”
In the statement, Harry’s spokesperson said: “In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the Duke will meet with his father while in the U.K. this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program. The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Prince Harry arrives to attend the Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, in London, Britain, May 8, 2024.
Toby Melville/Reuters
The source said, “It was classic Harry—childish and petulant foot-stamping. Everything is always someone else’s fault. Even Harry must know the reason a meeting isn’t happening is not due to Charles’ ‘full program’—it’s because Harry sold out his own family.”
Richard Kay, the well-connected Daily Mail journalist said that both Camilla and William “would have viewed the prospect of a meeting between the king and Harry deeply troubling.”
As The Daily Beast has reported, William has no interest in renewing his relationship with his brother.
In another clear expression of the different ways that the king’s two sons are treated by their father, just hours after the revelation that Charles and Harry would not meet, Buckingham Palace announced a new military role for Prince William as Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps. The position will be bestowed on William during a rare joint engagement with his father next week.
Prior to his departure from the royal family, the role had been earmarked for Harry, who was a member of the regiment.
Buckingham Palace did not return a request for comment on whether Harry’s remarks about Camilla were a factor in his father not meeting him this week.
