Prince Harry claims that Camilla Parker Bowles leaked and planted stories in order to rehabilitate her image as a “villain.” The Duke of Sussex discussed his stepmother’s efforts to improve her reputation, calling her “dangerous” as he was “sacrificed on her PR altar.”
Prince Harry said he had to ‘draw the line’ when royal family ‘decided to get in the bed with the devil’
In a Jan. 8 ITV interview, Prince Harry discussed how members of the royal family would leak stories in order to improve their image. He didn’t name anyone, however.
Harry told interviewer Tom Bradby, “Those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right? — to rehabilitate their image. If you need to do that, or you want to do that, you choose to do that — well, that is a choice. That’s up to you.”
He added, “But the moment that that rehabilitation comes at the detriment of others — me, other members of my family — then that’s where I draw the line.”
In his Jan. 8 60 Minutes interview, Harry went into more detail about the leaking and planting of stories, calling out his stepmother Camilla specifically.
Interviewer Anderson Cooper noted, “Harry’s memoir Spare, is anything but spare in its unflattering portrayal of the royal family, especially his stepmother, Camilla, now the queen consort. She married then-Prince Charles in 2005, though the two had been romantically involved on and off for decades. When Princess Diana famously referred to Camilla as the third person in her marriage, the British tabloids ran with it, and Prince Harry has never forgotten.”
Harry explained, “She was the villain. She was the third person in their marriage. She needed to rehabilitate her image.”
Harry said he and Prince William asked their father not to marry Camilla. “We didn’t think it was necessary. We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good and that if he was now with his person, that surely that’s enough. Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to?” he said. “We wanted him to be happy. And we saw how happy he was with her. So, at the time, it was, ‘OK.’”
Prince Harry calls Camilla Parker Bowles ‘dangerous’ in her efforts to improve her ‘villain’ image
In his book, Harry calls Camilla “dangerous.” Cooper noted, “You wrote that she started a campaign in the British press to pave the way for a marriage. And you wrote, ‘I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy.’ How was she dangerous?”
Harry responded, “Because of the need for her to rehabilitate her image … That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press. And there was open willingness on both sides to trade of information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that.”
Cooper noted, “Harry says over the years, he was one of those bodies. He accuses Camilla and even his father, at times, of using him or William to get better tabloid coverage for themselves. Prince Harry writes, Camilla, ‘sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.’”
Harry further explained why Camilla engaged in this behavior. “If you are led to believe, as a member of the family, that being on the front page, having positive headlines, positive stories written about you, is going to improve your reputation or increase the chances of you being accepted as monarch by the British public, then that’s what you’re gonna do,” he said.
Harry has ‘compassion’ for Camilla but she crossed the line
In his Jan. 9 interview with Good Morning America, Prince Harry admitted that while he has “compassion” for Camilla, her history of working with the media to improve her reputation “comes at a cost.”
He explained, “I have a huge amount of compassion for [Camilla], you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage.”
He continued, “She had a reputation or an image to rehabilitate, and whatever conversations happened, whatever deals or trading was made right at the beginning, she was led to believe that that would be the best way to do it.”
Prince Harry said he can’t tolerate anyone getting hurt in the process, however. “And I don’t have a problem with any member of my family needing to rehabilitate their image, but if that rehabilitation or that relationship with, in this case, the British tabloids, comes at the cost of my girlfriend or my family ‚ my close family or my larger family — then I draw a line at that.”
