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Prince Harry has opened up about his troubled relationship with his stepmother Camilla in his explosive memoir Spare.
In the book, which hits stores on tuesdayThe Duke of Sussex, 38, claims the queen consort fired his wife Meghan when she came to her for advice on her public image, reminding her new daughter-in-law that she had been the “bad girl once”.
Elsewhere in the memoir, the father-of-two described how he told his wife not to curtsy to Camilla during their first meeting before accusing Camilla of trying to “eavesdrop” on a conversation between the Duchess of Sussex and her father. .
Meanwhile, Harry also claims that his stepmother encouraged him to take over as Governor-General of Bermuda, which would mean moving him and his wife thousands of miles away.
Prince Harry has taken a series of blows to his stepmother in his memoir Spare. In the image, the Duke of Sussex and the queen consort at Trooping the Color 2015
Harry told Meghan NOT to curtsy for Camilla
Prince Harry describes how he introduced his girlfriend Meghan Markle to his father and stepmother in late 2016, shortly after her awkward encounter with Prince William.
Before going to Clarence House in London, Prince Harry says the couple had “rehearsed” how Meghan should greet Charles and Camilla.
Earlier in the book, the Duke recounts how the Duchess of York taught the Suits actress how to curtsy to the Queen at Windsor Lodge.
Prince Harry says he told Meghan not to curtsy to her stepmother when they first met at Clarence House in late 2016 as it wouldn’t be “appropriate”. The women photographed in May 2018
He instructed her to bow to Charles, address him as ‘Your Royal Highness’ and give him a kiss on each cheek if he bowed, but if he didn’t, she should stick to a handshake.
However, Harry told Meghan to take a different approach with Camilla, saying a bow “wasn’t necessary.” Instead, he urged her to give the stepmother a kiss on the cheek or another handshake from her.
Although Meghan questioned his instructions about the lack of curtsy for Camilla, Prince Harry doubled down, insisting it was “not appropriate.”
Camilla ‘eavesdropping’ on Charles and Meghan
Harry alleges Camilla ‘eavesdropped’ on a conversation between Meghan and Charles (pictured March 2019) during their first meeting at Clarence House
During that same meeting over tea and salmon sandwiches at Clarence House, Prince Harry described how the conversation went “easy” between the four of them at first.
After Camilla and Meghan bonded over their shared love of animals, the Duke says his father and his girlfriend struck up a “quiet conversation,” which intrigued his stepmother.
Describing how Camilla was “stuck” with him, Harry recalls how she seemed “more interested in eavesdropping” on Meghan and Charles’ conversation.
Harry says the couples later ended the engagement by discussing Meghan’s career.
Later in the book, Prince Harry tells how Prince William was left “seething with rage” and accused his stepmother and father of “planting” stories about his family.
Prince Harry says Camilla didn’t offer much support when Meghan came to her for image advice in 2016, reminding her that she had been the “bad girl once”.
Meghan’s turn to be the ‘bad girl’
Before their engagement was announced in November 2017, Prince Harry says Meghan was increasingly concerned about the way she was portrayed in the press.
The Duke writes that earlier in the year, The Sun had published a story about sex scenes from Meghan’s Suits being uploaded to pornography websites.
After her legal battle with the newspaper, the Duchess turned to her soon-to-be mother-in-law for advice on how to deal with the media attention.
However, Harry claims that Camilla did not provide much reassurance.
He wrote: ‘[Meghan] She approached Camilla, who tried to counsel her that this was just what the Press always did with newcomers, that it would all pass in due time, that Camilla had been the bad guy once. The implication is what? Now was it Meg’s turn? Like it was apples to apples.
Camilla suggested the role of Bermuda
During this same meeting between the two wives, Prince Harry claims that Camilla suggested that the duke take on a new role that would involve moving out of London.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the King and Queen Consort pictured at the Queen’s funeral in September 2022
The Queen Consort reportedly told the Suits actress that Harry should consider becoming Governor General of Bermuda.
The then-Duchess of Cornwall put forward this suggestion, as it would take the couple out of the “red-hot center of the maelstrom”.
However, he notes that this would conveniently ‘take them out of the picture’ as well.
Camilla ‘wanted Kate to change her name’
Prince Harry also claims that the King and Queen Consort suggested that the Princess of Wales change her name to Katherine to avoid another name beginning with ‘C’ in the family.
Later in the book, Prince Harry claims that his father and stepmother wanted the Princess of Wales to change the spelling of her name to differentiate her from them.
The Duke alleges that the royal couple suggested that the mother-of-three call herself ‘Katherine’ instead of ‘Catherine’.
He wrote: “I remembered the time he and Camilla wanted Kate to change the spelling of her name, because there were already two royal figures with a C and a crown on top: Charles and Camilla. It would be too confusing to have another.
In his explosive interview with Anderson Cooper, which aired on Sunday night, Prince Harry described Camilla as “dangerous” and a “villain”.
Prince Harry targeted his father’s wife, Camilla, in a TV interview to promote his memoir Spare, with CBS’s 60 Minutes in the US.
He said: “She was the villain, she was a third person in the marriage, she needed to rehabilitate her image.”
That made her dangerous because of the connections she was forging within the British press. And there was an open willingness on both sides to exchange information and with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on her way to being Queen Consort, there were going to be people or bodies left on the street because of it.
But hours later, Prince Harry told Good Morning America that he doesn’t see the Queen Consort as an ‘evil stepmother’.
In his third television interview, he said: ‘I feel great compassion for her, you know, being the third person in my parents’ marriage. He had a reputation, or an image, to rehabilitate.
“Whatever conversations that took place, whatever deals or transactions were made early on, he was led to believe that that would be the best way to do it.”
When asked what his relationship with Camilla is like now, Harry said: “We haven’t talked in a long time.” I love each member of my family, despite the differences, so when I see her we are perfectly nice to each other.
It’s my stepmother. I don’t see her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who got married in this institution and has done everything possible to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own good.’
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