Windsors at war
Battle royale: Bitter family feud wrecks the wedding
With just ju weeks to go before the world’s worl focus is on the royal family fami for Prince Harry’s marriage to t Meghan Markle, a bitter feud feu behind palace doors threatens threa to overshadow the joyous jo event.
Royal insiders te tell Woman’s
Day the recent publication pubblication of a book outing Princes Charles as “pampered, petulant and self-pitying” has led to a furious falling-out between the Queen and her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cornwall.
With the 91-year-old monarch blaming Camilla for her son’s dented reputation, we’re told the senior members of the Windsors, including Harry and Prince William, are hardly on speaking terms.
“The tension within the royal family is at an all-time high,” reveals one well-placed palace source. “This is nothing short of a battle royale. The Queen is disgusted with Camilla’s behaviour and has accused her of mounting a disrespectful bid for the throne. William and Harry are barely speaking to Charles or Camilla either. It’s all a shambles.”
The book, RebelPrince: The Power, Passion and Defiance of PrinceCharles, is a new exposé by investigative writer Tom Bower. It contains explosive claims he and Camilla launched a smear campaign to portray Princess Diana as a “scheming hysteric” before her tragic death in 1997, and reveals startling allegations about Charles’ privileged existence.
It describes how the 69-yearold heir takes his own furniture with him when he travels, including an orthopaedic bed and personal toilet seat, that he will only consume food prepared by his own staff, and that he demands private jets and trains.
“It’s no secret that Charles insists upon a certain level of luxury, but for years, the Queen has tried to turn a blind eye,” tells our source. “It appals her, but she’s been powerless to stop it.”
The book claims that Charles employs four gardeners to lie nose-down on a trailer pulled by a slow-moving Land Rover to pluck out weeds at his Highgrove garden, as well as a team of retired Indian
servicemen to “prowl through the undergrowth” at night with torches to pick slugs from the plants.
Furthermore, the book alleges that Charles was insensitive about flaunting his relationship with Camilla in the years after Diana’s death – and that William, 35, and Harry, 33, used the servants’ entrance to avoid bumping into their father and his mistress.
Warofwords
Months after his ex-wife’s fatal accident, Charles reportedly challenged the Queen over her hostility towards Camilla, who she’d referred to as “that wicked woman”. The author claims, “She’d had a few martinis and replied she could not condone his adultery, nor forgive Camilla for not leaving Charles alone to allow his marriage to recover.” This apparently left the prince “distraught”.
More recently, the book says, William had to ask for the Queen’s help after Charles and his aides snubbed the Middleton family due to jealousy over the Duchess of Cambridge’s popularity.
Leaping to William’s assistance, the Queen is said to have arranged a film crew to capture the monarch driving Kate’s mum Carole around Balmoral. “That made things very clear to Charles,” reports our source. “He’s never quite got over it.”
Now, the feud is dripping down the generations, with William, Kate and Harry barely able to be civil to Charles and Camilla. “Things have become toxic after so many years of built-up resentment,” reports the source. “Kate can barely be in the same room as her fatherin-law and can’t stand for the children to be around him. William is polite to his dad, but he’s vowed he’ll never be the kind of father that Charles was.”
Indeed, William and Kate have chosen to spend several Christmases with the Middleton clan instead of the royals, while their children – Prince George, four, and Princess Charlotte, two – are given as normal an upbringing as possible.
“William and Harry have always felt hurt by Charles’ aloof parenting style,” says our source. “They often had the feeling that he put Camilla before them and that’s never really gone away.”
And with Harry’s May 19 nuptials nearing, palace aides fear the fight could spill over on the big day. The source tells, “The timing of these allegations couldn’t be worse. Charles and Camilla are absolutely fuming. They thought they’d finally convinced the world that they deserve to be king and queen, but it’s all in tatters now.
“The Queen is outraged. She blames Camilla for most of the bad headlines that have hit
the royal family in recent years, while the duchess complains she’s never been forgiven for her affair with Charles. In her opinion, she’s worked harder than anyone at her royal duties and she’d like to be shown a little support.
“The Queen will make it clear that everyone must be on their best behaviour, but there’s no doubt that behind the smiles, the tension will be simmering.”