Prince Charles Has Been So Hurt By Prince Harry’s Behavior Because He Advocated for Meghan Markle, Royal Biographer Says
When Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, sat down for their primetime special with Oprah Winfrey back on March 7, 2021, the Duke of Sussex claimed that Prince Charles cut him off financially and stopped taking his calls. Harry also said he believed his father was “trapped by the institution” and described their relationship as “space.” In case anyone somehow missed what Harry told Oprah, he hit out again at Prince Charles. Weeks after sitting down with the legendary talk show host, the Duke of Sussex appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast for another bombshell interview and took aim at his dad’s parenting and how he brought him up.
It’s been reported that many within the royal household were appalled by Harry’s comments while the Prince of Wales was “very hurt” because of how he advocated for Meghan Markle to join the family. Here’s what a royal biographer has just revealed about that.
Royal expert says Prince Charles initally wanted to issue a detailed response to refute Harry’s claims
Following the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah, there were reports that Prince Charles wanted to issue a response and refute his son’s claims.
“My understanding is that Prince Charles did want to issue a more detailed statement [in response] to the Oprah interview and possibly address some of those issues point by point. But there was an evening to think about things… it was decided that a shorter statement would be better, [and] that going at things point by point could be potentially more damaging and give more ammunition for the row to continue,” Katie Nicholl explained to Entertainment Tonight.
The palace decided to instead issue a brief 61-word statement that read: “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
Royal author says Prince Harry’s actions are very ‘hurtful’ to Charles who advocated for Meghan
Prince Charles became very fond of Meghan when she and Harry were dating. The Prince of Wales used to call her “Tungsten,’ a nickname to match the strength and determination she displayed and Meghan was credited with helping bring Charles and Harry closer. Moreover, Charles was instrumental in persuading his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, to allow Harry to marry a divorcee in a church.
According to royal historian and author of Battle of Brothers Robert Lacey, Harry’s actions since stepping down have been “particularly hurtful to Charles since he was quite an advocate for Meghan at the start. He walked her down the aisle. He nicknamed her ‘Tungsten,’ the hardest metal in the world, and he thought that it was good for Harry to have a really strong woman by his side.”
“Charles’ strength and weakness is that he feels things deeply, and I think he will feel very deeply about what Harry said on Oprah,” Lacey opined per The Daily Beast. “The personal nature of it must be wounding. The animus to publicly wound his father in a way that was not necessary would likely be very upsetting to Charles.”
The Duchess of Sussex was reportedly upset about Prince Charles’ future plan for the monarchy
Another thing the future king has been advocating for is to slim down the monarchy significantly once he’s king. Charles reportedly only wanted his wife, his two sons, and their wives to be considered senior royals. However, Lacey said that those plans were not welcomed by Meghan.
“In pursuing his own cause of the slimmed-down monarchy, Prince Charles had been making noises about limiting the number of HRHs created by George V’s 1917 convention still further, thus cutting out Archie from his future prince-ship — and Meghan took that personally,” Lacey wrote (per Express).
