Prince Harry Has Conflicting Feelings About Queen Camilla, Says a Body Language Expert
Camilla Parker Bowles, now officially Queen Camilla, didn’t exactly have a quiet entrance into the royal family. Her lengthy affair with Prince Charles blew up in the news in the 1990s, effectively shattering the family dynamic between Charles and his then-wife, Princess Diana, and their two children, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Harry wasn’t shy about what happened behind closed doors with Camilla in his book “Spare” — he openly admitted that he and his brother plead with their father not to marry her. Now, even years later, his body language suggests that he still has difficulty understanding his feelings toward Camilla — at least, according to one expert.
Prince Harry and Camilla Parker Bowles didn’t always have a close relationship
Camilla was not initially welcomed into the royal family with open arms, and for obvious reason: She was having an affair with now-King Charles, which ruined the king’s marriage to Princess Diana. Harry and William were caught in the crossfire, knowing their parents’ relationship — and their father’s actions — were being heavily scrutinized.
Though it’s been years since Charles and Camilla’s relationship became public — and nearly two decades since they finally wed — body language expert Jess Ponce III told The List that Harry speaks about Camilla with very little emotion.
When discussing Camilla and Charles with Anderson Cooper, Ponce says Harry spoke of Camilla
“in a seemingly objective, non-personal fashion … He purposefully did not personalize his response and as a result objectified her.”
Despite that Harry seemed to remain unemotional when talking about Camilla, he could still be hurt by the affair. “When Anderson indicated that Camilla was campaigning to get married, Harry took a beat and closed his eyes. One could see at that moment he was feeling something. Was he communicating his own hurt feelings, the pain of someone trying to replace his mom in the public’s eye?” Ponce told The List. She added he could also have been anticipating being asked about why he didn’t want that.
Ultimately, Harry’s feelings toward Camilla appear to remain complicated. The two are always cordial, but there seems to be a part of him that is still hurt by what happened 30 years ago.
Prince Harry doesn’t spend much time with King Charles and Queen Camilla
Harry and Meghan don’t go out of their way to spend time with Charles and Camilla, and the same goes for the other way around. Harry and Meghan removed themselves from the royal family in 2020, and they returned to the United Kingdom twice in 2022, but both occasions were for the queen (her Platinum Jubilee and her funeral).
Back in May 2023, Harry did attend Charles and Camilla’s coronation ceremony, but he did so without Meghan. The Duchess of Sussex chose to stay in California, and Harry reportedly was in the UK for less than 24 hours during the event’s weekend. Though Harry has been outspoken about potentially reconciling with his family at some point, it’s hard to pinpoint when that conversation could start, given Harry and Meghan’s distance from the United Kingdom.
