Royalist and royal-correspondent Robert Jobson has written a book about Prince Charles called Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams. Sometimes I’ll remember Charles’ age all of a sudden and think “damn, it’s strange that he’ll probably be in his 80s by the time he becomes king.” That being said, I think Charles has largely made his peace with that, and he’s tried to become the most consequential Prince of Wales in history. I would argue that he’s achieved that. Anyway, The Daily Mail has some lengthy excerpts from the book, which you can read here. These are my favorite parts, mostly about Charles’ relationship with Harry and William.
William & Harry have often been angsty & tantrumy with Charles: Occasionally, the level of belligerence Charles has encountered from his sons has shocked the Prince, as both boys have, on occasion, challenged him. William has even been known to speak firmly in his father’s face. It is reminiscent of his mother’s hot temper. Insiders say that Harry and William have by no means always shown proper respect to the Prince of Wales and his office. To this day, Charles admits he often finds it difficult to gauge either of his sons’ occasionally unpredictable moods. ‘In that aspect of their nature, both princes are very much like their mother,’ one close source confirmed.
William is very competitive with his father & brother: William may be Charles’s heir, but he’s extremely competitive with members of his family when it comes to media coverage — although he gives the impression it doesn’t concern him. In reality, it does. Take Meghan and Harry’s appearance in Cardiff on a royal engagement in January. It was a time of peak interest in the couple. Intriguingly, William — who was also on a royal engagement — chose the same day to display a new and dramatic buzz cut hairstyle. As a result, Harry was not the only royal prince featured in the following day’s papers. As far as William is concerned, Harry is aware that his brother is Number One in the royal pecking order.
Everyone walks on eggshells around William: Many members of staff, even operators on the Palace switchboard, are aware that William can be ‘difficult’ or ‘a little grand’. Indeed, even Charles is said to be wary of his mood swings.
Harry is more of his mother’s son: Harry, while also prone to volatility, is a much warmer man than William — and is far more given to emotional outbursts. Like his mother, he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. During the build-up to his marriage to Meghan — and indeed beyond — insiders noticed a change in his relationship with his father: he’d begun to show him much more respect than he had previously. After all, Charles had not only bankrolled the wedding but done everything he could to ensure that it went smoothly.
Harry was a mess leading up to his wedding: In the build-up to the wedding, says an inside source, he was ‘petulant and short-tempered’ with members of staff. Raising his voice on occasion, Harry would insist: ‘What Meghan wants, she gets.’
Meghan is a huge fan of Charles: It IS Meghan’s own relationship with Charles that is proving to be key to newfound warmth between him and his second son. ‘When Meghan met the Prince of Wales, she was bowled over by his gentlemanly charm,’ said an inside source. ‘She told Prince Harry he was wonderful; welcoming, warm, hard-working, kind and stable. She made it clear that he should appreciate him and bond more.’ She consulted him about the music for the wedding, while Charles has taken time to discuss with her the intricacies of life in the ‘Firm’.
I think it’s probably true that Harry and William both have a Diana-like side, her mercurial moodiness, her emotional nature. As Harry has gotten older, we see it more – he has his mother’s charisma and her emotional messiness. William, on the other hand, is more of a blend of his parents, but very much his own beast. If anything, William has gotten less relaxed, more neurotic and pettier, I think. Jobson makes a very interesting point though: Charles did something different with Harry and William, which is that he bankrolled their separate office in Kensington Palace so they’d never have to be part of his “royal court.” Is Charles going to bankroll Harry and William’s two separate offices now too?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Charles can afford it. Duchy of Cornwall income was approximately £20m last year. WKH were given about £5m. That will go up significantly this year since Meghan is on board (mostly due to the costs of the wedding).
Charles, while he might love his boys (“Whatever love means”) always loves Charles first and foremost. Perhaps Camilla a distant second, maybe tied with TQ. Charles was always throwing the boys under the bus for good PR for him and esp. when he was trying to bring Cam into the public fold. His only real concern is what he can do for HIMSELF first, perhaps Cam and country tie next.
I think they’re all rather messed up. Charles comes across as very caring and he probably does have a caring side but actually everything I’ve just read above sounds like it’s come straight from him. I mean did Meghan really said of Charles ‘he was wonderful; welcoming, warm, hard-working, kind and stable. She made it clear that he should appreciate him and bond more’? I think most girlfriends, upon meeting the parents are careful with what they say. Did Meghan get stuck in there with the family drama that quickly? I doubt it.
I also find it interesting that Prince Charles, the same man bitching and moaning about his parents not giving him enough attention when he was young is also shocked that his sons don’t always give him the respect due to “his office.” Uh, no shit, your sons don’t care about your office. They’re popping off in your face because you’re their DAD.
Royals’ social skills seem even more remedial than the most isolated homeschooled children.
Meghan and Charles hit it off , she said he was wonderful.
He has been very supportive to her and kind to Doria.
The press has hidden a lot about Williams real personality, because they wanted to build him as Diana male image. IMO
Hashtag: METOO
hashtag: poorlittleprince
Hashtag: youdontknowhowgoodyougotit
Hashtag: overit
Unless you lost a parent as a kid, you have no idea what he went through. Prince or not, he and Harry had to grow up faster and do you really think that family gave them enough love and nurturing?
Chucky just hates that he doesn’t have William’s numbers in public approval and that the Middletons became his family, next to Harry.
Sadly, lots of children lose parents, suffer trauma, or have otherwise difficult and unhappy beginnings. They don’t all turn into petulant, willful, or “difficult” adults though. At some point he needs to take responsibility for his actions. He has all the resources in the world to find a good therapist or otherwise get help to work out his issues. He just has to want to. Didn’t he say (during that Heads Together sit-down interview with Harry, Kate, William) that he hasn’t felt the need to get therapy himself? Maybe he should follow his brother’s example and work on healing his childhood loss.
Very true Milla that William was deeply affected by his childhood and it has shaped who he is today good and bad. If it’s true that people walk on eggshells around him than that is troubling and suggests that he isn’t a very nice person. He would benefit from having someone in his life who would could call him on his behaviour and direct him to getting emotional support. There is no excuse for mistreating others.
This doesn’t make either of the young princes sound good. I know Kate knew what she was getting into with William after years of dating, but I hope Meghan doesn’t have a hard time with it once the love haze of their quick relationship wears off.
She could prove to be a stabilizing influence on Harry. This isn’t the first time I have heard that she likes Charles and has encouraged Harry to have a better relationship with him. I imagine the contrast to her own family may be a bit of an eye opener for him.
Exactly. His family has issues for sure, but maybe seeing Meghan’s awful family of vultures who will sell her out for a dime, has put things in perspective a bit.
I agree. Charles is not a perfect father, but he was never a mess like TM has been.
Double post
Except he often leaks stuff negative stuff about his kids (I thought I read he cooperated on this book?). That’s not exactly different then the Markles, and at least they own the crappy stuff they put out.
For some reason I immediately thought of Kate, who, as wife, has to deal with Will’s character the most. I wonder if she knows how to handle him at this point and/or doesn’t care or if it’s actually not a pleasant thing about their marriage..
I read lately (Lainey maybe?) that perhaps Kate deliberately doesn’t outshine William, that’s part of why she was such a good match for him and his temperament.
I’ve always believed this.
K and W do engage in sporty competitions when making appearances. Remember when she beat him sailing a while back and crowed about it? How does that fit if she knew he did not take kindly to being shown up?
@Agenbiter – perhaps sport isn’t an area he cares about so doesn’t get upset about being shown up. Maybe he cares more about being “the best royal” so that’s the area where she knows not to show him up. Personally, I think she is just as lazy as he is and that’s why she does as little work as she can. I also think (assuming any of this story is true) that this is why he loves her family so much. He is the king of the castle with the Middletons, and probably loves it since he’s not treated that way with his own parent.
Kate and the kids have to deal with William the most. They have been together for such a long time, they dated almost 10 years before marrying, that I am sure, Kate knew what she was getting herself into. With William, the family, the press and everything that comes with the firm. And that she knows how to handle him.
With Meghan on the other hand. I really doubt that she knew. And I am not sure how she will handle longterm
I immediately thought of his wife and kids too. This isn’t the first I’ve read about his temper and jealousy. I hope he’s not like that with them.
So, does the author imply that Harry is not that much better than Willy? Meg is a people pleasure, though. Very Southern California – smiley, positive, self-deprecating and eager to accommodate. A child of Thomas Markle on top of that. She probably will do ok.
I wonder how his nasty temperament gels with his “raising happy well-adjusted children?”
William is the guy who stood on a table shouting I am free after dumping Kate! Don’t forget that gem.
Carole deals with William just like she deals with Kate. They’re both living an extended life of adolescence with Carole there to keep the peace, force them back together, and play the peace keeper.
+1000000
I’d speculate that they are still very wounded by their mother’s untimely death, and indirectly (still) blame their father for the circumstances, rightly or wrongly.
I can’t imagine what losing your mother at the ages they did would do to you long-term.
Yeah I find it interesting how those excerpts seem to imply that William’s and Harry’s moods/tempers/whatever are more “nature” than “nurture” and that Charles seems to be a helpless bystander to these wild emotions that they inherited from their mom. Perhaps they just never learned healthy ways to handle their emotions growing up (and hence why they have mental health care as one of their projects). Everyone has a story – no one is just “moody” or “temperamental” for no reason or because they were born that way.
Actually, moodiness can come along with quite a few problems that are nature, not nurture. It’s not always because of your childhood or your parents or your own independently bad attitudes.
One simple example is irritability often seen in people (at least males, in my personal experience) with bipolar disorder, especially if undiagnosed and untreated. In particular, it seems to come along with untreated depression and it can linger after treatment for the basic disorder (possibly just as a counterproductive coping mechanism). . Don’t have much experience with the mania end of it, but it may be more on the depressive side anyway.
Even undiagnosed food allergies can cause serious behavioral problems in some people -identify and eliminate the allergens, and such people may actually become much calmer and quite different. It basically depends on what organs in the body are affected by the allergic hypersensitivity. If the brain is a target, behavior can be affected.
We may not be able to always distinguish between problems caused by bad experiences/bad upbringing and problems caused by inborn physical/chemical imbalances or susceptibilities. But the more we do learn, the more we see such connections.
Diana’s children might very well have genetic predispositions to some problems like hers. They need to watch out for it in their children and try not to make things worse with common practices such as sending them off to boarding school as youngsters (a huge stress on children unless their home life is so awful that it’s an improvement); I don’t think it really was helpful for William and Harry).
It’s not surprising that Charles had no idea how to respond to Diana if she had untreated brain disorders. Few people can handle it, especially if the euphoria of early love masks it before marriage. It’s much easier to deal with physical illnesses because the personality is not necessarily affected. But anything that affects the brain is another story entirely. What makes us ourselves is actually quite fragile and variable and that’s scary.
Comment in wrong place! My bad
I thought the same. Loosing your mother like that while knowing the details of your parents’ marriage and your father’s cheating would make anyone slightly sour. It’s natural if not rational to feel passive aggressive towards one parent who had caused so much pain to the other.
And the nasty divorce before her death, and discovering Charles having long-term affairs. That does permanent damage to a parent-child relationship. A situation like that went down in my family, a nasty divorce with revelations of a long time mistress, and still today the grown children have a hard time with their dad. No matter how much they love him, sometimes they just can’t deal with him. William and Harry sound a little like that.
Also the divorce and the war between Diana and Charles, would have been enough to cause a lot of damage. The publicity of it. Imagine going back to school after Tampon gate?!
Then the death of their mother and everyone wanted a piece of them. It was the best thing then to be at Balmoral. To have a bit of privacy, but everyone in London went crazy and demanded the royal family back in the city. It was disgusting to see, how everyone wanted a front row seat to their grief. I will never forget the footage of William and Harry having to comfort STRANGERS about their own mothers death. It was bizarr. And sick. And disgusting.
Not only losing her at such a young age but doing it in the public eye, then constantly being haunted by her spectre in the media and the people they meet. I can’t imagine that coping with any of that is easy, especially in such a stiff-upper-lip family. Harry admitted that he didn’t seek help until a few years ago. The Firm didn’t know what to do with Diana (I’m not a Diana stan and believe she had issues stemming from her own dysfunctional family) and didn’t appear to change much immediately following her death.
Diana wasn’t “emotional,” she was mentally ill due to being groomed and preyed upon and mentally abused by someone nearly twice her age. I will never defend two useless, spoiled lumps, but I also will never believe a word coming from Charles’ camp.
I think that’s giving Charles a little too much blame. He was callous and sometimes downright cruel, but let’s not pretend that she had an idyllic and emotionally stable growing up.
I’m quite sure that Diana came into that marriage with problems that simply were following a natural course of deterioration with age and especially pregnancy. You don’t become mentally ill because you made an unhappy marriage with someone older and clueless.
She would have had problems with any spouse, most likely.
It really is a chicken/egg problem trying to sort out Charles’s behavior, though. Did he go into the marriage fully expecting to be unfaithful? Or did he wander back to old loves because he had no idea how to handle Diana’s problems? He certainly had choices. But it seems as if neither of them had the kind of help dealing with it all that seems more readily available today at least to peasants.
I remember reading/hearing about him telling Diana that he wasn’t going to be the only king of England without a mistress. I think, (not positive), that Diana mentioned that in her first televised interview where she uttered the famous “there was three of us in our marriage.”
Diana had serious issues before she went after Charles. And she did go after him, lying and pretending to be a simple country girl who loved all the royal pursuits. She wanted a man who could not divorce her and she thought (wrongly) that the POW couldn’t divorce. They both married an idea not the actual person.
Why is it important to point out that “she went after him”? She was near half his age, that doesn’t wash. I’m not one to blame Charles for everything because, by the end, they’d both done their damage. However, I don’t like the blame purposely being put on an 18 year old girl for thinking she was in love with a 30 something year old prince like he just couldn’t resist her awkward feminine wiles. She was in a very bad spot thanks to a lot of the so-called adults in her life.
She went after her sister’s ex-boyfriend, lied about who she really was, and eventually admitted she did it because she wanted the one man in the UK who couldn’t divorce her? Not because she loved him, but she loved the idea of his role in the world meaning he could never divorce her? A teen who threw her stepmother down the stairs and bragged about it?
Diana had issues, boatloads of them, even more than Charles. Her going after Charles was a choice she made, but not an innocent one.
How did nursery assistant Diana, go after Charles? It was her grandmother and the Queen mother who hatched the plan.
WOW this is wild. Did Charles know about Diana throwing her stepmother down the stairs? and if so was there any cause for concern with him or his family. I get that he had no choice in marrying Diana but a woman who seemed to have serious issues and prone to violence that’s a RED FLAG to me and to force your son to marry someone like that. The marriage was definitely doomed.
I really don’t think she was groomed by Charles. I think that word is being mis-used here. This was basically an arranged marriage (since, as even Diana noted, they had met only 13 times before and I don’t get how he could have groomed her in so few meetings where it appears no physical intimacy was involved). Her grandmother wanted that marriage to happen as did Charles’s grandmother. The media also wanted that marriage to happen. Basically everybody wanted that marriage to happen and they were under pressure to fulfill everyone else’s mythic dreams and wishes.
I think he was wrong to cheat on her (and even I don’t get the whole Camilla thing — yeah, she’s supportive blah blah, but she really doesn’t sound any less annoying than either Charles and Diana) but in some ways I think he was as naive about what he could achieve with Diana in marriage as she was. I also think a good marriage is dependent on timing and luck and favourable circumstances. Had they been regular people, they probably would have parted ways before even getting to the engagement stage..
I read yesterday that people think the Queen is going to abdicate and therefore William and Kate will be using Clarence House and Harry and Meg Kensington and that’s why we’ve heard that they are separating their offices. Who knows.
The Queen has said herself she will die on the throne, besides she loves the country too much to abdicate.
That’s what I’ve heard too….that the Queen views this job as a duty, not a perq, and will serve as long as she lives.
It’s funny. As a kid, William was supposedly a “terror”, throwing fits and telling kids at school he was going to be King some day. Then as a teen he seemed like he had grown out of that. But maybe that’s been his character all along?
As for Diana, I have long been Team Diana, but I gotta say the TV interview she did where she aired all the dirty laundry had to have had a terrible effect on those boys. I really question her judgement on that.
Charles looked absolutely warm and fatherly with Meghan and lovely to her mother at the wedding. Of all the royals, Charles comes off as the most intellectually curious, so maybe he is smitten by Meghan’s interest in her causes.
No need for it. She will die as Queen.
It will happen sooner rather than later “naturally”. I mean the Queen is a certain age and Charles is shrinking and looking not so healthy lately.
When I watched the Queen, Philip and Charles next to each other at Eugenie’s wedding.. I thought in 5 years all three of these people might be gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Queen is the “last man standing”…
There will only be a regency if the Queen becomes mentally incapacitated and cannot do her duties. She will never abdicate because her uncle doing so scarred her for life.
She may be passing down some patronages and other things, but the monarch related duties are still something she does daily.
The Queen believes, believes, this is a God-given role. She will not abdicate but has stepped back some things because of increasing physical frailty. They will not skip Charles for William.
Kensington has many homes within it, no need for W&K to move until after Charles passes away. As the elders pass more spaces open up, if Harry and Meghan are slated for a larger London home. BP will undergo renovations for 10 years. Queen will move to Windsor for those renovations. If she passes during them, Charles will remain at Clarence and Windsor.
Separating offices makes sense. As someone else on here wrote, the working royals all have their own offices, personal secretaries, etc. Past time for Harry to have his own office, especially now with his marriage.
yikes, that article does not make the princes look good. but I also always kind of assumed they were entitled dudes because they were born princes and I am pretty certain that kind of life makes you think your poop doesn’t smell.
It’s basically the definition of “entitled” – they have a title. So everyone else has to care what they think!
Surely exposure to Thomas Markle has made Harry if not William too realize that they didn’t have it so bad after all in the dad department.
Gawd, yes, at least Charles had betrayed his wife but never his children.
I’m 100% convinced the two brothers are not the besties they want us to think they are, and have been displayed as such mostly as PR to cover for their bad behaviour. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Also not surprised they aren’t respectful towards Charles – I mean is anyone surprised by that? I feel like particularly William and Charles have been feuding privately (and sometimes publicly through leaks etc) for years!
All 3 are known to be quite petulant and demanding, actually.
William and Harry are two very different personalities and I see them growing further apart. Harry always tries to be nice to William, who seems to love to put his younger brother down by making snide jokes. I am sure Meghan has noticed all of this and William will need to watch himself now that Harry has a very intelligent and astute ally.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the tension between William and Charles stems from both what William believes Charles did to Diana and possibly the way Charles uses the press. I’ve always thought that one reason why William might hold his kids back from a closer relationship with Charles is because he doesn’t trust his father not to use them to create positive press for himself. I always think of the story of the boys meeting Camilla for the first time and how Charles’ camp leaked it as part of their image rehab push. It seems like a lot of sore feelings were brought up around the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death and negative stories about her re-emerged, possibly to counteract the negative Charles stories.
I’ve read all of the excerpts released for this book and it’s very much more of the same “poor Prince Charles” narrative. It seems like he’s always been a distant-ish parent and I’m not surprised he can’t understand his sons’ moods or effectively deal with them. I like Charles, but I wonder if participating in this book—or indirectly sanctioning it by granting access—will hurt his relationship with his sons even more?
Charles didn’t exactly have two warm, present parents as role models. Neither Charles nor Diana were raised with the tools to be great parents themselves, unfortunately. Hopefully Will and Harry take the best of both their parents, combine it with the best of their wives and be better for their kids.
I don’t believe this story both men have moved on from their parents dysfunctional marriage I dont think they have any issues with their father anymore .
I also don’t believe the overall tone of this story. It sounds like William and Charles and Harry and Charles sometimes get into it and the sons get frustrated and emotional with their father. I mean, that sounds like family to me. Is that newsworthy? If so, here’s a worldwide alert: families are messy and weird, lots of emotions can come up in family convos, children of divorce sometimes have resentment towards the parent who (in their perception) initiated the divorce, children who have lost a parent at a young age have issues that come out in various ways in their adulthood, and most people have at least one parent or sibling that isn’t quite what they want them to be. I think it boils down to: families aren’t perfect.
Yeah agreed. It’s like the book is taking normal family things and trying to make them a big deal? Children (even adult children!) fight with their parents sometimes. It’s really not surprising to me that two INTENSELY privileged white men, whose parents had a messy, public divorce, followed by the mother’s tragic death might be entitled and a bit emotionally volatile.
Also the example they chose of William trying to pull focus made me lol. “Balding man debuts DRAMATIC haircut to distract press from brother’s outing!” 😂
Dee Kay, your comment is perfect, and so true! Newsflash families are complicated, tune in at 7!
ladie, that part about William getting a haircut! lol! Omg, alert the press!
This excerpt here made me crack up. It’s so beyond petty.
I think Harry has repaired his relationship with Charles. I don’t think William has.
William and Harry were both away at boarding school during the Wars of the Waleses. Take anything Diana wrote about that, and how much William was privy to, with pounds of salt.
William had no problem cheating on his girlfriend with Kate. No problem cheating on Kate with other women for years. No problem being close friends with the Van C family who enabled Charles and Camilla’s relationship. No problem raising his family in the house where their relationship took place.
William doesn’t have a problem with infidelity, only with not being the main focus of both his parents attention constantly. He resents a father who does his royal work, understands duty, and expects his son to step up and stop being so lazy. William also threw Diana under the wheels of the bus with the stories claiming Diana was a bad mother to him because she worked.
Yes to everything you said!
Charles was so gracious and kind during the wedding. It seemed to me that when he escorted Meghan down the aisle, and then was so inclusive with Doria, that he was absolutely giving his support and stamp of approval. He must be so happy about his relationship with Meghan. He knows that he’ll have plenty of time with that grandchild. I wonder if Will’s competitive streak will mean that Charles will be seeing much more of George and Charlotte.
None of us know how much time Charles spends with his grandkids, it’s all speculation. Louis bears the name Charles as one of his middle names so I don’t think their relationship is as strained as some people try to make out.
It wasn’t long ago when people used to claim that W&K did not allow their kids to socialize with the other royal children and yet we have seen them appear quite close & familiar with each other at recent family events.
That is a recycled royal name, not because of Charles. It is one of Edward’s names too.
I like Charles for the most part, but this book very much seems to have a ‘poor Charles’ narrative. Diana was moody and made some big mistakes, but people tend to gloss over how cruel he was to Diana back in the day and the fact that Charles behaved even more horrendously (just not in a public manner). It’s not just that he had an affair, which is hurtful in itself, it’s the way he conducted that affair—he supposedly would go off to one of the Queen Mum’s houses, with her full permission, on loved up weekend with Camilla while he was still married to Diana. He also gaslit Diana like crazy.
This is a terrible book. What a thing to write and put out there.
This entire family has been a mix of opposite temperaments, beginning with the Queens father and his own brother who abdicated. It has carried on with the Queen choosing a husband who wasn’t much like her either and also very attractive. The Queen is strong tho and able to handle people if only by being stuck there and having no alternative.
Diana, being so emotional – which isn’t wrong but I say it to note the difference between how the Royals always functioned vs. Diana’s way and her beliefs. This is naturally going to cause difficult differences.
This book is awful, these people are a a family and those boys lost their mother and their parents marriage was horrid. Ugh. Leave them be. This is personal and has nothing to do with their roles as Royals.
I’m glad Meghan is there. Her Mom taught her a lot and she’s very grounded as a result. I hope she is able to help keep relations happier and more connected by being in the fold.
There is really hardly anything new in this book that we have not heard before, its just a rehash of old stories by a ‘royal journalist’ trying to make a bit of money out of the royals like they all do.
“William and Harry have never shown proper respect to the Prince of Wales and his office”….
This is hopefully totally made up or Charles and team did it again… Using his own sons to make himself look better.
Poor Charles. Always the victim. What a spoiled little dandy snowflake he is.
My, my. I suppose we have your first-hand experience in the palace to thank for such a pithy and knowledgeable comment.
If it is from Charles, he’s little better than Thomas Markle.
I’m old enough to remember the stories of Prince Charles being moody and demanding as well as spoiled (doesn’t someone put toothpaste on his toothbrush for him?).
I think many people see Harry as that small little boy walking behind his mum’s casket, and that’s why his label is different. William, who was older, was more angry over the situation, so it has affected how we see them even 20 years later.
William needs someone stand by him as he pulls away from what he believes killed his mom. Harry needs a mothering wife – which is why both of them have married women so suited for them.
The toothpaste story comes from when Charles had a broken collarbone and his arm was strapped to his chest for 6 weeks.
Again with the mothering claim? Typical tumblr response. Meghan cannot be his equal, must somehow be his substitute mother because she is three years older. The look in Harry’s eye every time he sees Meghan has nothing to do with maternal feelings. LOL
LOL Harry looks at Meghan like girl I CANNOT WAIT to get you back home.
LOL @nota! Totally agreed.
And @Rianic, a drunk driver killed William’s mother (who wasn’t wearing a seat belt). William may have some (mistaken) belief that the paparazzi had a hand in it, but it is 100% a fact that Charles had nothing to do with Diana’s death.
William’s bad relationship with Charles stems a lot from the fact that his mother saw him as a confidante and told him about all her problems with Charles when Will was way too young to understand. Diana was mentally ill and used the children far more than Charles ever did. She had to be loved more than their dad. She manipulated them to be weapons in her and Charles’ battles. She was not the saint people like to believe she was. She was a selfish toxic person who would have fit right in with the White Markles.
And Charles courted and married a teenager, emotionally cheated on her with Camilla through the entire courtship and marriage and gaslighted Diana about the nature of his relationship with Camilla. He used friends that she would have to socialize with to help with the logistics of the affair and was outraged when Diana finally confronted Camilla. After the divorce. Charles held a bonfire at Highgrove to burn their wedding gifts and removed every trace of Diana from the house.
Even an adult would be angry about this. William and Harry were going to find out whether in an interview, book, or through gossip. Diana should never have used William as a confidant but Charles’ earned his children’s anger.
They both behaved terribly. Diana played games with custody by deliberately not sending the kids back at arranged times, and harassed Tiggy because she was jealous. Charles used William during his pr rollout of Camilla. It’s an incredibly dysfunctional family.
Considering how Diana leaned on William, it always made sense to me that William would be drawn to a family where the parents’ lives revolved around their children to perhaps an unhealthy degree seeing as all three Middleton kids have faltered in their independent projects. And Meghan has a lifetime of experience in dealing with dysfunction from her own family.
Yeah, honestly. I’m sure she didn’t intentionally screw them up – but children are NOT appropriate confidantes. The “parentified child” is a real thing – and it happens sadly way too often. Sometimes this can make a child more resilient, sometimes it doesn’t have a big lasting impact -but often it does have a negative one that they’re going to carry for the rest of their lives.
I never understood the idea that Diana was this perfect woman. She did some lovely things – but she was a rotten person at times as well. Nobody is black and white – but it always strikes me as funny when people complain about Charles’ affairs and contribution to books when Diana did both of those things as well. But putting her children in the position that she did is absolutely sad, and (likely) unintentionally cruel.
I agree, Erinn. I don’t know why Diana is held up as some perfect woman who was blameless when she was neither.
Both Charles and Diana made major mistakes in their marriage and as parents. It was on the world stage, unfortunately.
They both came into the relationship with emotional baggage from their own families and childhoods. Frankly I don’t think either was equipped for marriage at the time though Charles of course was much older.
They both had affairs. They both leaked things that they shouldn’t have and both used the press when they could. I don’t see Diana as this victim (at times, perhaps) and Charles as a villain. Likewise I’m not poor Chuck that mean old Diana (he was older), lol.
If you don’t think Diana was “emotional” or had deep issues then what else do you call it when you throw yourself down the stairs when you are pregnant and could harm your own child, a child who would one day learn about that by virtue of who his family is? It’s not normal behavior, whether she felt pushed (the situation with Charles) or not.
Diana was mythologized because she died at a young age. Had she still been here today, she would be the divorced princess and perhaps would be more like Sarah than anyone wants to admit.
I think in their young adult years, they may have had a strained relationship with Charles. For now, I’ve seen Harry behave warmly (in public) towards Charles and Camilla. Their body language seems alright.
William does seem bitter but I don’t know if it’s his face.
William, more and more, simply oozes “douchebag.” Too bad – I used to think highly of him. Seems he may have more in common with Prince Philip rather than his own father.
Good observation – and Diana’s father’s temper is in the mix too
If any of this is truthfully reported, is there any chance that at least a bit of the problem lies in Charles’ not being comfortable with others expressing their feelings around him, so he interprets anything strong and real as being out of proportion and overly intense?
I had that thought, too, actually—that in this circle, whether it’s Charles or someone at the palace, took them expressing any strong emotion as them being overwrought and “temperamental.” I have no doubt both William and Harry have had their moments and grew up extremely entitled, but it sort of sounds like the boys were really suffering emotionally after their mom’s death and they’ve only recently sought help from mental health professionals. Both boys seem much more content this last year.
Also, one of the recent articles about Will’s temper (I can’t remember if it was Jobson or Richard Kay) specifically cited the example of Will shouting in anger… over topless photos of his wife being taken, published, and splashed all over the Internet. Which, yeah, I’d be pretty furious over that, too.
It might be worth mentioning that sending an 8 year old child to boarding school may contribute to some feelings of alienation from both parents. Don’t know how any parent could do it. Also William was old enough for his temperament to have been formed by the time his mother died. It is not just his father to blame.
Diana’s former bodyguard gave interviews a while back and he noted that William was sly as a child whereas Harry has the better temperament. So this is not that different from what has been said before.
I’ve always wondered if part of Diana’s obvious emotional issues were partly biological. I wonder because they’re finding out so much now with the unraveling of the human genome. Diana had, meaning no disrespect for the dead, terrible parenting, but some of her issues, like the lying showed up pretty early in childhood. I wonder if her volatility was part nature, part nurture (or the lack thereof – she was the poster illustration for privileged kids who had everything but appropriate parenting). The fact that both boys have the mood swings and volatility makes me wonder even more, because usually any two kids in the same dysfunctional family develop different strategies for coping. I read the excerpts in the DM and noticed that it also said that Kate was usually able to reign William in with “a quiet word”.
My takeaway is that all Windsor men need spouses who are more mature than they are and good at “handling”. Hopefully, both men found that in their respective wives, because their father didn’t first time around. Both Charles AND Diana needed handling. Bad equation.
Have always responded to the lazy Kate accusers that William alone is a full-time job for Kate.
Violet & Svea, I think you’re both spot on. I can remember the summer Diana died. It was like a never ending soap opera, it didn’t show her in a good light, the press obviously had their say and most people agreed. Then she died. One femail journalist explained that she felt Diana was like a daughter, frustrating, extremely irritating, she could criticise her but deep down she loved her, faults and all. I think this was most peoples attitude, but then people forgot the less attractive behaviour as the myth of Saint Diana was created.
Neither of them were perfect, neither of them were evil. Diana had affairs with married men, pursued them, even though she knew how the wives would feel. She didn’t shield the kids which would be the instinct of most mothers. William’s headmaster made her go to the school to explain the documentary to him. I read that Charles had his toothpaste squeezed when he damaged his arm playing polo, he probably is demanding but probably not totally incapable. Bad equation is the best description I’ve heard.
Considering the Daily Fail is pushing the book, my assumption is it’s a bunch of hooey, not to be taken seriously.
Not everything written about the royals is fact and it’s important to bear in mind that authors are prone to sensationalism to sell their book.
Anyone that tries to blame the breakdown of a relationship on the other person is not taking responsibility for their own actions. When a marriage breaks down both the husband & wife have to take some responsibility but it seemed that neither Charles or Diana were willing to do that and were content on blaming the other. The same thing goes for the relationship between a parent & child. If there are issues with his boys then Charles also needs to take some of the responsibility. I know William is not very popular on here but blaming him entirely for his relationship with his dad is unfair. It was only last year when Harry complained in an interview that he was forced by people (which includes his father) to walk behind his mother’s coffin, and when he went to seek counselling the only person he mentioned for encouraging him to get help was his brother William and not his father, so that should tell you something
I think Kate is willing to take crap from William. Before marriage William was chasing other girls and dumped Kate. That ski weekend was all levels of humiliating but Kate didn’t pack up the kids and leave KP.
I’m sick of all the ‘Diana this Diana that’. Her father was known to have a vile temper and his father was known as ‘Black Jack’. Diana’s mother left her kids because she couldn’t stand the brutality of life with ‘Johnny Althrop’. Maybe it’s genetic maybe it’s a learned response to Diana’s behaviour, I remember odd stories leaking out about ‘fights’ quite early in her marriage where glass and furniture got broken by her. I get the impression Kate is enjoying her children but suffering the marriage as her mother schemed and pushed her into it. I feel sorry for her but she may get what she needs, a cosseted life to raise her children. The only time I’ve seen her truly happy in photos was at Prince Louis’ baptism.
That marriage was always doomed and not just because of the age difference and his mistresses. You touch on it. Diana came from an even. Ore dysfunctional family than the BRF and was emotionally unstable as a result on top of being just generally too immature to deal with the situation she found herself in.
Neither of them were perfect but they did try and raise their sons to be better than them. It failed with William but u can see that there was some success with Harry. Harry has their sense of duty, something lacking in William.
I also really think that being in the Army for 10 years helped Harry mature and be treated as if he’s nothing special (meaning all soldiers of his rank were treated the same, he had to earn promotions, etc.). I think his time in the military was probably the beginning of him reevaluating himself and his childhood, and his future too, with being inspired to create Invictus. I’d be willing to bet that it was after his service that he finally sought counseling.
There are certain parts of this story I can believe. But then they mentioned the buzz-cut and….I wasn’t as convinced. How do you steal focus or attention with ….no hair? Just what everyone waits for with baited breath — a story about a man with no hair. If Kate Middleton had tried to steal focus with a bald head, that would have made way more sense to me.
On another note, I don’t think Harry comes close to having Diana’s charisma. He’s charismatic in his own way as an individual, but I don’t think he has the global effect his mom had and I don’t think he’s as pleasing as she could be in public (she was charismatic even in her silence before the tell-alls started so I don’t think her charisma owes to simply being “open”). He used to be really good-looking so I’m assuming people are responding to that more than any actual charisma. Now that he’s losing his looks like William did, I’m wondering what all of the hullabaloo is about. He “talks” in public, but I don’t think he ever says anything eloquent or witty like Michelle Obama does.
Diana had a quick wit and an amazing ability to display her emotions in her eyes and smile. I don’t know if Harry has that. I think his charisma comes from his sincerity and good-natured way of interacting with people.
There’s a sad and touching gif I saw on Instagram of Diana smiling on tv and William watching with the same smile.
It would be a miracle if they were well adjusted people, given their upbringing. I think they both married up in that sense, and hopefully the next gen will be better. And I am really happy they have spoken openly about therapy. But it’s still such a privileged bubble they were raised in, not to mention the family drama and their mother’s death- obviously they have issues. I see the charm of Harry, but Will has never had any appeal to me whatsoever. As much as we (myself included) like to dump on Kate for her boringness, its good to remember that she is clearly the better half of that couple.
Yeah, she is. Kate strikes me as a far more competent person than William.
In the first few years of the marriage, I always wanted Kate to come into her own and basically take off because she is smart and determined enough to do it. I guess it works best for the Cambridges that she doesn’t want to do that.
Both Princes were always a bit bratty, Harry still is to a degree but he grew up whereas William didnt and got worse. I think there r lots of factors at play but with William it’s well known that Chuck is no fan of the Middletons and the influence Carole has over his son. William is determined to push them into the royal fold when no other in-laws have been, he seems to enjoy rubbing his fathers face into the type of life the Middletons bent over backwards to give to him.
As for the competition with Harry. It’s been like that since they were children, there r many stories of Diana talking about that rivalry. She once said that she often told William that if he didn’t want to do something then Harry would do it instead and he’d miss out. It’s well known William doesn’t like to be outshone and it’s not the first time he’s done something to take the spotlight from Harry or his father. William thinks he’s a media genius he ain’t. He’s just a spoiled man child who needs a good dose of reality.
I’ve said on here before both Princes married women who reflect who they are as men. William married someone who is as lazy and entitled as he is. Harry married someone who has the same drive to give back as he does.
^ This.
I have to say I’ve never perceived William as someone who seriously dislikes being outshone.
As a therapist I take offense to the words “emotional messiness” to describe serious mental health issues.
“William has even been known to speak firmly in his father’s face”.
LOL, I am not William’s biggest fan but how is this a bad thing? Maybe Charles wants William to leak stuff to the press instead of saying it to his face
Yeah, I paused at that line too. Like, everybody, even saints, have at some point talked back to their parents.
In other words, they are human like the rest of us. God forbid they act like it though. 😄
I think everyone who has to endure public scrutiny has a temper of some kind. I think that kind of scrutiny tends to make you more anxious, snappish, and prickly. As long as none of them are punching either, I’m not really too moved by this story.
Is it a mystery that William is spoiled, demanding, moody, or superior? He was raised knowing he’d be the KING of England one day! That alone would mess with anyone’s head. I am against the idea of monarchy for many reasons, the least of which being that I don’t think it’s good for the people IN the system either.
Look at other heirs to thrones who are of a similar age. The rest of them aren’t spoiled and temperamental like William, and all were raised knowing they would inherit a royal throne.
If biographies aren’t written as frequently about them as they are of the British royal family, how do we really know that they’re not spoiled and temperamental? We’re able to cobble a picture of all of these princes of the British royal family because they’re covered so often and in English. This doesn’t excuse whatever spoiled tendencies the British royal family exhibit –I just don’t think enough is written about the other royal families to really figure out how not spoiled they are.
I also think people are way more fascinated with the British royal family than any royal family from another country and that level of scrutiny is bound to mess with these people’s heads. No wonder the Queen takes a gin and tonic at noon — honestly, I would too!
We can watch them and observe their behavior for ourselves. See the choices they make, from their education to their choice of spouse. For English speakers, often the focus is the Brits, but not for all of us. See the terrible forum that exists simply to attack Queen Letizia as a non-English example.
@Notsugarhere
How exactly do you know how other heirs to the thrown are behind closed doors? Do you live with them? You only see snatches of them. How much of their behavior are you really exposed to deduce their behavior. It’s amazing how you think you know these people, you don’t.
@linda she doesn’t know anything more than which she observes through her own one sided skewed view which is always negative of Diana, William and Kate. Always.
There are plenty of examples of parent-child conflict between the senior members of the British royal family. QE2 and her father are the exception to the rule, but George V and Edward VIII, Queen Victoria and Edward VII and even Victoria and her mother had frequent conflicts and estrangements, not to mention Charles’ often-stated issues with his own parents. IMO, Charles and William just fit into a well-established pattern of dysfunctional behavior in the British royal family (and a lot of other families too, as many of you pointed out).
It often seems as though the boys who are born as heir apparent or heir to the heir apparent tend to be the bigger problems than the ones who were the spare. George V was the second son, as was George VI and they don’t seem to be as difficult as Edward VII was or Edward VIII / Duke of Windsor. Clearly they are doing something wrong with the first born sons in the Windsor family.
I love the “whatever Meghan wants she gets” tidbit lol! Harry must have been afraid she’s bolt.
No-one should be born into a predetermined role. No-one. I can totally accept that it is cruel to everyone it happens to.
Still, I suspect the regular lives royals covet aren’t working class. They probably look to their toffee nosed friends with envy and call that “a regular life” not knowing anything about what real, regular lives are.
I hope that the boys appreciate how difficult it was for Charles after the sainted Diana died. Doesn’t sound like they do. He and Diana had become friends after the divorce and would consult with each other regarding the boys. They lost a mother but he lost his parenting partner.
Charles was the only man that Diana truly loved.