Prince Harry Just One-Upped Prince Charles, According to a Royal Author
Did Prince Harry just one-up his father, Prince Charles? A royal commentator thinks so. The Duke of Sussex recently released a statement saying he severed all ties to a Saudi businessman in what the 37-year-old calls the “CBE scandal.” In it, Harry refers to Charles’ cash-for-honors scandal without calling out the future leader of the British royal family by name.
Prince Harry says he stopped accepting donations in 2015
Per the U.K.’s Mirror, the Duke of Sussex released a statement in December 2021 regarding the cash-for-honors scandal. The father of two said he, his staff, and his charity Sentebale cut ties with Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz in 2015.
Harry’s statement read as follows: “The duke and his advisors, as well as his non-profit charity Sentebale, severed ties with Mr. Mahfouz and his associates in 2015, no longer accepting further donations to Sentebale and discontinuing any plans for a fund-raising event amid growing concerns over the motives for his support. The duke had one planned meeting with this donor nearly eight years ago, did not introduce him to any members of the royal family and expressed his concerns about the donor.”
In September 2021, The Times reported Michael Fawcett, the now-former chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, accepted Mahfouz’s donations to Charles’ charities. In return, Fawcett reportedly helped secure Mafouz an honorary, and very prestigious, CBE.
A royal biographer says Harry’s statement is a ‘clear case of one-upmanship’
Royal biographer Angela Levin feels Harry said a lot in the statement without explicitly stating his father’s name. “He doesn’t mention Charles by name in his statement but it’s a clear case of one-upmanship,” she told Mirror.
The Harry: A Biography of a Prince author continued, saying it’s yet another example of the Duke of Sussex making digs at his father. “Harry looks for any occasion to whack his father and criticise him,” she added, calling it “sad.”
Since stepping down as a senior royal in 2020 Harry’s taken aim at Charles’ parenting among other things. When he and Meghan Markle sat down for a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey Harry said Charles and Prince William are “trapped” in the royal family.
Now, Harry’s relationship with his father doesn’t appear to be much better. After a period of not speaking, they’re supposedly talking again.
Prince Harry may hold his father’s former staffer responsible
According to a royal expert, Ingrid Seward, Harry may not think his father is responsible for the cash-for-honors scandal. The editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine told Mirror he could very well place the blame on another individual, Fawcett.
“He might personally be feeling that his father is an idiot — but he would never say it,” Seward said. “If anyone, he would lay the blame on Michael Fawcett. Harry never liked Fawcett. The way he fawned over their father, he found it distasteful.”
Fawcett became the chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation in 2018 after a reshuffling of Charles’ charities. Following the cash-for-honors allegations, Fawcett temporarily stepped down from his post before making it permanent in November 2021.
