Harry’s accusations have unfairly vilified Camilla. But it’s HIM that’s the outcast, says eminent royal expert A.N. Wilson

When Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was released, we were shocked by his portrayal of Camilla. He wrote about how he and Prince William begged his father not to marry her: ‘Despite Willy and I urging him not to, Dad continued. We pumped his hand and wished him well. No hard feelings.”

Well, some hard feelings, apparently. Why else would he have written that he remembers wondering if Camilla would be cruel to him “like all the wicked stepmothers in storybooks.” And that William ‘had long harbored suspicions about the Other Woman’. And, among other allegations, that Camilla leaked one of her early conversations with William to the press.

Now Channel 4 has a new documentary, Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother? – a title that would certainly not have existed without the Duke of Sussex’s paranoid accusations.

Predictably, it airs his grievances about the Queen and asks the following questions in a synopsis: ‘How did Camilla Parker Bowles rise from the most hated woman in Britain to Queen Camilla, the national treasure? And was her transformation at the expense of Prince Harry?’

Poor Camilla, is what I say. She doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

The program presents itself as fair, and the ‘talking’ journalists present were generally on Camilla’s side or at least keen to point out that there was not a shred of evidence to support this view. that she had informed the press against his wife.

Much was made of a pre-wedding argument between the two sisters-in-law, Kate and Meghan, which supposedly ended with Meghan in tears.

In the Sussex version of events, there was no way this story would become public, had Kate or the evil stepmother’s aides not leaked it to the press. But as all the journalists on the program noted, there were plenty of people who would have either witnessed the argument between the two women or could have listened at the door.

The royal households are full of people, including large numbers of staff, and the institution of royal courts is leaky. No one has ever provided any evidence that after Kate and Meghan had a falling out, Camilla’s side immediately leaked the story. It would have been very surprising if she had done that.

For example, one royal expert – Jennie Bond – described how she had written to Camilla and received a lovely letter from her stating that she had never developed a special relationship with a journalist and did not want to start one now.

Camilla wasn’t about to snub Bond, a former royal correspondent for the BBC. She just didn’t want to play the game.

Yet the program commentary addressed Harry’s case, seamlessly saying that “the negative press against Meghan continued.” The unspoken but unmistakable message suggested that Camilla had in fact informed against Meghan.

They replayed the clip in which Prince Harry said his family had failed to protect him and his wife from press intrusions.

A voiceover reminded us that accusations of racism had been made against the royal family, and this voiceover would not have been included in the program if it didn’t want you to think that one of the ‘racists’ involved had been Camilla. . Again, there is simply no evidence for this.

The program insidiously tried to suggest that there is still so much bad blood between Harry and Camilla that the royal family’s reputation is being irreparably damaged. It gave almost no room for Camilla’s hard work, especially during the king’s illness and cancer treatment, during which she exhausted herself in fulfilling public duties.

The truth is that Camilla is the best thing to happen to the Royal Family since the Queen Mother.

In Spare, Harry suggests that the row between Meghan and Kate could only have been made public if Camilla’s aides had leaked the story to the press.

The future George VI was a shy, stammering naval officer dubbed the Duke of York, when his starry older brother David appeared to be becoming the even more prominent Edward VIII. Edward VIII even abdicated and ‘Bertie’ became one of the most loved and respected kings in modern history. But he wouldn’t have done this without his wife Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

As for King Charles, he was a miserably unhappy person, misunderstood by his parents, and he hastened to marry Diana Spencer, which would make them both miserable.

Diana was a wonderful person – but she was, as she put it, a Queen of Hearts, a one-time superstar and not a natural royal consort. She had genuine empathy and knew how to charm the audience.

It is completely understandable that we all cherish her memory. She did extremely well and was rightly loved. Of course, Harry remains traumatized by the horrible way she died. That includes Prince William, and that tragedy will scar the royal family for the next generation.

But Diana wasn’t cut out to be the kind of woman Charles so desperately needed – someone who loved him unconditionally; who had enough humor and maturity to laugh him out of his self-pity and touchiness; and someone who didn’t try to steal his thunder.

Diana herself was a vulnerable, paranoid person who came from a broken home. She lacked some of Camilla’s strong qualities: common sense and humor.

In this context, it is downright ridiculous to see Camilla as the evil stepmother who broke up an idyllic fairytale marriage. Charles had never had a stable relationship with a woman until he met her. He was unable to build a lasting relationship with any of his many girlfriends. It’s very, very difficult to expect any person to be Charles’ partner.

He is a difficult, irritable person, but also warm and loving. He needs constant reassurance. And he fears being overshadowed – in the past by his father, and in his first marriage by his wife.

Charles, Harry and Camilla pictured in the Channel 4 documentary

Camilla, on the other hand, is a modest, good-humored person. Anyone who meets her should be struck by her pleasant manners, cheerful conversational style and decency. She is willing to make royal visits, royal speeches and royal meetings with a wide variety of people, from diplomats to primary school children, from politicians to disaster victims. She doesn’t give herself air and is happy in her own skin.

When Prince Charles’ marriage to Diana broke down, Camilla was described as the most hated woman in Britain. Twenty-five years have passed since then, and even the most ardent Diana fans can now see that she helped rebuild not only Charles’ self-confidence, but also the plausibility of the monarchy.

It is Harry, not her, who is the despised outcast today. Whatever Channel 4 would like us to believe.

• ANWilson is the author of the Substack anwilson.