Queen Camilla’s brave reaction to Prince Harry’s brutal words about her in Spare
Prince Harry has taken aim at his stepmother on a number of occasions - and a royal author has revealed how Queen Camilla has dealt with his very public criticisms
Queen Camilla has been left ‘hurt’ by stepson Prince Harry’s criticisms of her, but has managed to put on a brave face, according to a royal expert.
Harry has hit out at Camilla on a number of occasions – in TV interviews and in his tell-all memoir Spare. His comments are said to have especially angered his father, King Charles, with the relationship between father and son left greatly fractured. In one instance, Queen Camilla was previously branded a “dangerous” villain by Harry, who told CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview: “With her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street”.
But writing in his book, Charles III. New King. New Court. The Inside Story, author Robert Hardman says the Queen “was content to let it pass”. He noted that Camilla was “business as usual – with a smile and without a word”, and that she was sure the “public have a pretty good idea of what they’re getting”.
Harry also took aim at Camilla in Spare, branding her “dangerous” and accusing her of sacrificing him on her own “personal PR altar”. He further suggested she had leaked negative stories about him to the press in a bid to boost her own reputation. “I had complex feelings about gaining a step parent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar,” he wrote. “In a funny way I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy?”
Lady Lansdowne, 68, who is godmother to Camilla’s daughter Laura Lopes, said the royal was upset by the comments. She told The Sunday Times: “Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts. But she doesn’t let it get to her. Her philosophy is always, ‘Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down — least said, soonest mended.'” Harry was later asked about his comments on Camilla during an interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America.
He responded: “I have a huge amount of compassion for her, you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage. 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.
“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.”
Prince Harry then confirmed he hasn’t spoken to his stepmother “for a long time.” He added: “I love every member of my family, despite the differences or the difficulties that those relationships have put out, I guess. When I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other.”
