A leading royal expert has questioned why Prince Harry was so opposed to his father King Charles’ marriage to Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Award-winning journalist and author Robert Jobson says the Duke of Sussex’s description of Camilla as a ‘wicked stepmother’ seems ‘weird’ considering he was a grown man at the time, not a child.
Jobson told Australian breakfast show Sunrise that Harry’s feelings in the lead-up to the April 2005 ceremony weren’t befitting of a man of ‘nearly 21’.
A leading royal expert has questioned why Prince Harry was so opposed to his father King Charles’ marriage to Camilla Parker-Bowles. (Charles, Camilla and Prince Harry are pictured in July 2005, three months after the now-King and Queen Consort married)
Harry was 20 years old when Charles wed Camilla in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall in Berkshire, England. His first marriage, to the late Princess Diana, took place in July 1981 and ended in divorce in 1996.
In his upcoming memoir Spare, Harry says he and brother William, Prince of Wales, both ‘begged’ their father not to marry his long-term paramour Camilla, fearing she would be their ‘wicked stepmother’.
Charles had tried to win over his sons before asking the public to accept Camilla, the book claims. Harry then astonishingly says meeting the future Queen Consort for the first time was like enduring an ‘injection’.
He later says that ultimately he and William approved of Camilla.
Award-winning journalist Robert Jobson says the Duke of Sussex’s description of Camilla as a ‘wicked stepmother’ seems ‘weird’ considering he was a grown man at the time, not a child. (Harry is pictured on holiday in Switzerland in April 2005, a week before Charles wed Camilla)
In his memoir Spare, Harry says he and brother William, Prince of Wales, both ‘begged’ their father not to marry his long-term paramour Camilla, fearing she would be their ‘wicked stepmother’. (The two princes are pictured at Charles and Camilla’s wedding on April 9, 2005)
Speaking to host Monique Wright, Jobson said last week: ‘His attacks on Camilla where he’s saying that he didn’t want a wicked stepmother – he was nearly 21 at the time they got married.
‘So I think that’s all a bit weird to start going into these things.’
Harry’s retelling of his emotions before Charles and Camilla’s wedding appears to conflict with quotes his gave to the press shortly after the nuptials.
‘She’s always been very close to me and William… She’s not the wicked stepmother,’ he said at the time, according to People.
‘She’s a wonderful woman and she’s made our father very, very happy which is the most important thing.’
Jobson (pictured) said, ‘His attacks on Camilla where he’s saying that he didn’t want a wicked stepmother – he was nearly 21 at the time they got married. So I think that’s all a bit weird’
Prince Harry will discuss his memoirs in television interviews on Sunday after the book’s explosive revelations about royal rifts, sex and drugs cast doubt on his future in the British Royal Family.
The 38-year-old prince’s ghost-written book ‘Spare’ was widely leaked after it mistakenly went on sale in Spain ahead of the official publication date Tuesday.
Details include an allegation that his brother Prince William, the heir to the throne, attacked him during a row about his wife Meghan; an account of how he lost his virginity; an admission of drug use; and a claim he killed 25 people while serving in Afghanistan.
According to various reports, the book has deeply hurt William and the boys’ father, King Charles III, but the monarch wants to reconcile with his son. The palace has not reacted officially.
Harry’s retelling of his emotions before Charles and Camilla’s wedding (pictured) appears to conflict with quotes his gave to the press after the nuptials. ‘She’s always been very close to me and William… She’s not the wicked stepmother,’ he said at the time, according to People
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined any comment on the scandal in a BBC interview while stressing his ‘enormous regard for the Royal Family’.
TV networks have already released interview clips where Harry speaks about his fractious relationship with William and accuses his family of planting negative stories about him and Meghan in the media.
Harry: The Interview will air first in the UK at 9pm (GMT) on Sunday.
In the latest clip released by ITV, Harry revealed he ‘cried once’ after his mother Diana was killed and said he felt guilty at being unable to express grief while greeting crowds of mourners whose hands were wet with tears.
In previous clips, he focused on his combative relationship with William, saying his elder brother physically attacked him as they argued over Meghan, and ‘I saw this red mist in him’.
‘I want reconciliation, but first there has to be accountability,’ Harry said.
Prince Harry will discuss his memoirs in TV interviews on Sunday after the book’s explosive revelations about royal rifts, sex and drugs cast doubt on his future in the British Royal Family
Sources close to William and Charles commented to the British broadsheets Sunday.
The Sunday Times quoted an unnamed friend of the brothers as saying William ‘won’t retaliate, he never would,’ but ‘he’s anxious and he’s sad’.
‘He’s handling it so well on the outside – inside he’s burning,’ the source said.
Another unnamed friend told the newspaper that William ‘is staunchly protective of his own family, and he’s not just going to roll over.’
The Sunday Telegraph quoted sources close to Charles as saying the king saw a reconciliation with Harry as the ‘only way out of this mess’, however.
The author of a biography of Charles, Catherine Mayer, told The Guardian the royal squabbling was not trivial and could undermine the institution.
‘It is possibly something that will mark the beginning of the end of the monarchy,’ Mayer said.
Harry told ITV he still believes in the monarchy, although he does not know if he will play any part in its future.
He will not have a formal role in Charles’ coronation this year which he is expected to attend, according to reports.
In ‘a major break with tradition, Charles has scrapped the act of the royal dukes kneeling to ‘pay homage’, and ‘William will be the only royal to perform the tradition’.
U.S. channel CBS will broadcast its interview with Harry on 60 Minutes on Sunday. Another American network, ABC, is scheduled to air its interview on Monday.
The interviews were recorded before Harry’s book was widely leaked Thursday, prompting a backlash from media, royal commentators, military veterans and even the Taliban.
British papers slammed Harry’s claim to have killed 25 people while serving in the military in Afghanistan, after veterans criticised such statements as risky and inappropriate.
A Taliban official condemned Harry for saying the killings felt like removing chess pieces from a board.
