Harry accuses Camilla of ‘dangerous’ leaks to media
LONDON — Prince Harry has accused his stepmother, Camilla, the queen consort, of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her own reputation as he promotes a new book that lays bare his story of his life behind palace walls.
In interviews broadcast Sunday and Monday, Prince Harry accused members of the royal family of getting “into bed with the devil” to gain favourable tabloid coverage, singling out Ms Camilla’s efforts to rehabilitate her image with the British people after her longtime affair with his father, now King Charles III.
“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” he told CBS. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade 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.”
Prince Harry spoke to Britain’s ITV, CBS’s 60 Minutes and Good Morning America to promote his book Spare, which is to be widely released Tuesday. Some UK bookshops plan to open at midnight to meet demand for the highly anticipated memoir, which has generated incendiary headlines with reports that it includes details of bitter family resentments, as well as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s decision to give up their royal roles and move to California.
In the interviews, Prince Harry repeatedly blamed the media for the troubles that afflicted the couple, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, saying the coverage contributed to the rift with his brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate.
“They always pitched us against each other, he told Good Morning America. “They pitch Kate and Meghan against each other.”
Prince Harry was also unapologetic about launching legal battles against some parts of the British media. While he said his father believes it is “probably a suicide mission” to take on the press, Prince Harry described changing the media landscape in the UK as being “my life’s work”.