Queen Consort ‘ left bodies in street in bid to secure crown’
HArrY has launched another attack on his stepmother, claiming Camilla left ‘bodies in the street’ in her bid to secure the crown.
But he also said the Queen Consort is very much not the ‘wicked stepmother’ and that, ultimately, he loves her and understands she makes his father happy.
Prince Harry’s conflicting views on members of his family and his jumbled recollection of events are a hallmark of Spare, his new memoir, and the TV interviews he has given to publicise it.
Speaking on 60 Minutes, a flagship news programme on US network CBS, he evoked his late mother’s portrayal of Camilla as the ‘third person’ in her marriage.
He said: ‘She was the villain. She was the third person in their marriage. She needed to rehabilitate her image.’
The prince claimed in his memoir that Camilla started a campaign in the British press to pave the way for a marriage, largely through the household’s then- spin doctor, Mark Bolland.
Interviewer Anderson Cooper asked him: ‘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 replied: ‘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 information. And 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 because of that.’
Having accused his stepmother of ‘sacrificing’ him on her ‘personal Pr altar’, he added: ‘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... then that’s what you’re going to do.’
Harry also reiterated to ITV’s Tom Bradby his belief that Camilla deliberately ‘leaked’ details of her first meeting with William when
she was introduced to him.
In fact is well documented this was inadvertently done by a senior royal aide, who later offered to resign. Camilla stood by them, despite the personal embarrassment caused. Harry suggested the criticism of her was justified, explaining: ‘There’s no part of any of the things that I’ve said are scathing towards any member of my family, especially not my stepmother.
‘There are things that have happened that have been incredibly hurtful... No institution is immune to accountability or taking responsibility. So you can’t be immune to criticisms either.’
He discussed with both the US and UK interviewers the suggestion in his book that he and William begged their father not to marry Camilla, but said that by their wedding day the brothers had come to terms with what was happening.
He told ITV: ‘William and I wanted our father to be happy and he seemed to be very, very happy with her. We asked him not to get married. He chose to and that’s his decision. But the two of them were and remain very happy together.’
Harry said that he is ‘ at peace’ with the fact that they are married.
In a third interview with Good Morning America yesterday, he claimed he had a ‘huge amount of compassion’ for Camilla. But he admitted that they ‘haven’t spoken in a long time’.
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