We’ve been focusing so much on the mega-beef between Prince Harry and Prince William, we really haven’t spent much time talking about how all of the Sussexit drama has affected Prince Charles, and whether he has assumed any blame for what has happened. Believe it or not, I think Charles – perhaps more than anyone else in the family – understood that Meghan could be and would be an asset for the family. I think he was already closer to Harry than William when Meghan came around, and Meghan brought Harry and Charles even closer. I really do believe that. But I also believe that Harry still believes – still knows – that his father has always shoved him under the bus so that Charles can frame himself as a good father/good leader. And maybe Harry was also deeply hurt that Charles didn’t do more to protect Meghan in particular. That’s not what People’s cover story exclusive is about though – it’s about how Charles’s plans for the future always included Harry and Meghan and, privately, Charles is quite broken up about all of this.
Although tensions within the royal family are high, senior members want to help Meghan Markle and Prince Harry find contentment following their decision to step down from their roles.
“There is a firm determination within the palace to understand Meghan and Harry’s position and help them get to a place where they feel comfortable and happy,” a close palace source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. Despite a focus within the palace on the direct line of succession those close to Charles deny reports that he sought to slim-down the monarchy by squeezing out his younger son and daughter-in-law.
“Charles has always envisioned working with both of his sons and their families in the future,” says a close source. The leaner monarchy that has been proposed by Charles for cost-cutting purposes “included Harry and whoever he married,” adds a palace insider.
Observers say the royal family will seek to make things right. “For public and also for deeply private reasons, the Queen, and Prince Charles and Prince William will want to heal the rift,” says royal historian Robert Lacey, author of the books Monarch and Majesty, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “There is anger at the moment. But if Harry and Meghan are prepared to enter into the spirit of this new arrangement” —making sure not to appear to cash in on their titles and reputations—“I think the Queen, Charles and William will [support them]. Each of them, for different reasons, will want to heal what has gone wrong.”
It occurs to me, once again, that Charles doesn’t have a plan in place, nor a successor in place for The Prince’s Trust, his signature foundation which is one of the largest (if not THE largest) charitable foundations in the UK. Years ago, it was said that Charles approached both his sons to gauge their interest in possibly taking over The Prince’s Trust and both rejected it. I always hated that – William is lazy AF, so it was no surprise that he wasn’t interested, but I always thought The Prince’s Trust presidency would be a great fit for Harry, especially when he married Meghan. My point is that… yes, Charles really did hope that Harry and Meghan would stick around, because when he becomes king, he really will have to let go of so many of his charities and patronages. And let’s face it, William will probably only be interested in taking on a handful of them. Charles hoped that Harry would pick up some of the slack, long-term. But Harry said “not while you’re staying silent on the attacks on my wife.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.
Well. Then I guess he better get busy trying to set up a joint project with Harry so that he can make the most of the time he has with him when he is in the UK.
Why can’t he? Harry isn’t dead; far from it. Work with Harry. What’s stopping you?
I think when Charles is King lots will change.
I still wish William would throw a massive fit and abdicate his line. Harry and Meghan are so much more dedicated. Rather than keening, they’re doing.
Oh, but all that lovely Duchy of Cornwall money is just sitting there waiting for Willnot and Waity to get their hands on.
There are limits on how they’re allowed to spend Duchy funds, you know. And the Duchy only has income if there is a good, dedicated, forward-thinking Duke of Cornwall. Charles is one, William will never be. Expect to see Duchy failing big time under William.
The big payday is when Charles passes away, leaving all the massive private wealth to William and W not paying a penny in inheritance tax. That’s the payday Carole’s drooling over.
Yeah – but not really in the way that we think, he’ll be like his mother and NOT deal with the bratty child who could seriously damage the Monarchy.
He had a responsibility to Harry as a father and as a royal. He failed.
All of the royals get dragged in the press at one time or another. I don’t think Charles sufficiently appreciated how nasty the coverage of Meghan was because he Is used to it. I also think it never occurred to him to ask Harry and Meghan how they were coping.
I completely agree with this. It was sort of like…benign neglect.
Charles is minutely aware of absolutely everything that goes on in the RF. Anything that threatens his singular vision for the monarchy is dealt with stealthily and without mercy. Stop giving Charles a pass because he cares about the environment.
yeah, after the whole “tampon” thing with Cam, and his wife’s tell-all interview on national tv, it probably takes a lot to shock him, re: the press.
@Monicack agreed, I also think he is completely aware and makes it a priority to keep track.
Lilly thank you. The here and now always obscures precedence when it comes to royal gossip and that makes 85% of it off the mark. That is unfortunate because it throws very credible hypotheses out of the window in favor of Kate v Meghan stories and peasant vulgarities about Rose’s “bush”. It’s distracting and infuriating. meanwhile Charles, the courtiers and Pedo Andy were flying under the royal radar enjoying the liberty of public focus being on the Royal click bait and puff pieces.
“getting dragged in the press” is one thing. Refusing to stand up to racism is something else. Even the one time the royal family tried to acknowledge the racist bullying of Meghan, they just *had* to include Kate as an equal victim. They couldn’t address racism without obscuring the issue with a blanket of “Kate is equally a victim.” And THAT itself is racist.
Maybe.
@Monicack thank you for pointing out the “rose bush” jokes, i’m glad i’m not the only one sick of this meme repeated over and over in every royal thread. it’s overplayed. it was clever maybe the first time. now it’s just obnoxious. overall, W&K are routinely slammed on this site, we aren’t the right crowd to have william’s affair snarkily rubbed in our faces because we KNOW what a twat he is already.
I agree with this. A lot if people feel the Royal family is this huge machiavellian machine. I don’t think most outside of the UK realize just how unintelligent most of them are. Wills can’t even leak right without it blatantly being obvious it’s him. The answers are truly simple when one thinks about it. They’re a living museum on display for the rest of us normal humans. The lot with the exception of Harry and Meghan are not good with people and they are not intellectuals. They latch on their issues because someone told them to. The only Svengalis in the royal family are the courtiers.
LOL “peasant vulgarities.” If this is how the aristos behave, sign me up to be a peasant!
(Rose Who?)
I think Charles’ cousin Viscount Linley is going to take over the Trust.
Yes, he is already the chief executive. I don’t understand why Charles created an independent trust for William and Harry if he intended for one or both to take over his trust.
What independent trust? William and Harry established their own Foundation, which has now been split. The Prince’s Trust was never going to be Harry’s responsibility, as he is not the future Prince of Wales. William is the one who was supposed to step up here and refused.
He is not the cheif exec of The Prince’s Trust, nor is Charles’ position hereditary. He established it with private money, the pay package he received from the army when he left.
“successor in place for The Prince’s Trust”
it has been reported and I read in many places, but not from CH, that Viscount Linley will take over when the PoW becomes Charles III.
The Prince’s Trust is essentially the Prince of Wales Trust, complete with POW feathers as the emblem. It was always William’s job to take this over, not Harry’s. Harry shouldn’t be required to keep doing all the work William *should* be doing, and then sitting back while William takes the credit. That’s a huge part of why this split is happening.
After William and Harry rejected involvement, there was a period when Prince’s Trust future was up in the air. However, I know I’ve read articles over the last year that Margaret’s son, Lord Linley — I think he’s called — has agreed to take over and is already involved so there is a smooth transition when Charles has to give over his active role with the Trust.
My problem continues to be, Harry should not be faulted for saying no to the Prince’s Trust (if he ever did). He is not the future Prince of Wales, William is. The only brother who should be called up to run this, and criticized if he doesn’t, is William.
Everytime this is brought up and people write about how Harry rejected it or Harry should run it? It is the same thing. Harry shouldn’t have to do Willam’s work for him, while standing back and letting William get credit.
@notasugarhere – I feel the same way. Harry got dragged to heck and back for being “lazy” when he wouldn’t agree to take it over but why should he? He’s not going to be the PoW, so why should he do the work for it?
H&M want to be part time royals, yes? At some point, years down the road, can they go back to full-time? Just curious.
Yes. Edward and Sophie switched from non working royals to ft working royals in the early 2000’s.
That would be up to the Monarch at the time.
That’s what they should plan for. Let H&M have some family time and privacy, explore some passion projects, and then in the future, return to more duties.
But only if the family is supportive and puts a stop to the attacks and nonsense by William.
Don’t whine to us Charles. You let William throw Harry and Meghan under the bus so you could get closer to William.
Because that’s why Charles has been so quiet through this whole thing. He’s not going to say anything because his real priority showed in that documentary where Charles talked about how happy it made him feel to hear William’s appreciation. Charles was fine with using William to sell Camilla to the public and he’s fine with using Harry to get closer to William so that the public can think of him as a good and stable future King.
William has been very clever about this, always being difficult so that the rest of the family has to work to get any kind of concession from him, whereas Harry has been the go along to get along type. It must have been a really sad awakening for Harry to realize that the family takes his support for granted.
I remember that bit from the documentary. Charles seemed almost pathetically grateful that William was there. William is almost 40, TQ is in her 90’s, why wasn’t William there 5 or 10 years ago?
Meanwhile, William was telling the Duchy representatives he wasn’t planning to change anything, things would be the same, except he wasn’t interested in architecture. My translation: just keep sending the money along and we’ll be fine.
William is a giant man baby. His dad has done all this work and William is happy to contribute nothing -no ideas whatsoever.
I wonder though, what would happen if the Duchy income falls off, or if William decides he wants an increase, say, as the children get older – could he stick his oar in enough to screw things up? I presume there’s a governing structure, should go do some research…
Actually, I’ve always kinda thought Charles was quiet wrt Meghan’s racist tabloid abuse because the tabs reporters have something on him. I have no idea what that could *be,* but I think it’s significant enough that he didn’t have the bravery to stick his neck out for her. Because I too believe that he does genuinely like Meghan, and was one of the only to have the foresight to see what an asset she’d be.
He probably thought she and Harry should just “play the game” and sell themselves (and Archie) out to the press for better coverage instead of rocking the boat by trying to fight back. Afterall, it’s what HE did, even though he hates the press too.
Maybe he also didn’t even recognise it for the racist abuse it was? There have been quite a few people in the UK sallying out (including the home secretary, Priti Patel) saying that there have been no racist stories about Meghan in the press. The issue is that they don’t recognise the racism from the position of white privilege unless it’s as blatant as a headline saying “How dare she duchess whilst black?”. The fact that Meghan, in many cases, was being ripped apart for the exact same things Kate got praise for kept having to be pointed out by woc commentators to all the white TV presenters.
Either way – it doesn’t excuse the fact that neither he nor the Queen stepped in to defend Meghan from the constant press attacks, whether or not he recognised the racism endemic within many of the stories.
Priti Patel THINKS she has white privilege despite being of Indian descent. She is a nasty piece of work, never forget her threatening Ireland with food shortages over Brexit. Proper bitch that one.
There are far too many people mainly white but also Asian refusing to believe Meghan suffered racism from the press, it’s infuriating!
Because it doesn’t affect them it’s not there.
Oh don’t get me started on priti patel!! Ugh!!! That horrible excuse of a human being! What a pet for her masters.
Female MPs from across party lines wrote and signed a letter condemning the abuse that Meghan has gotten from the press and showed their support for Meghan and then this two bit hack says no racism involve?! b!tch please.
@The Hench – it could well be that. Half the time I only know things are racist because I’ve read people here and similar places say so and explain why. I grew up in a white family, a white town and a white state with parents who thankfully didn’t express openly racist views, so I didn’t hear any of that till I got a lot older and it took coming here to recognize non-blatant racism (and I’m still not great at it).
Unless Chuck has a similar source, it’s entirely probable he can’t perceive subtle racism when he sees it. And that’s assuming he’s receptive to learning.
And stil- still!- not one member of the BRF has come out condemning the media slander against Meg. Not TQ, not PC, and not PW.
Today’s tinfoil tiara theory:
There was an article about how there were rifts that didn’t involve PW and Harry. This was speculated by some posters here last week too. I’m starting to think it’s true. That maybe Will and Harry aren’t great, but maybe that’s papa’s doing? Could Charles be in charge of this whole smear campaign to put Harry/Meg in their place? And it backfired?
No it was KP and Carole Middleton.
In terms of the firm, how can you expect employees to stay when the condition in which they work are so bad? money is not enough to shrug off the abuse she was experiencing. you did a horrible job of protecting your asset. as far as a father and a grandfather you REALLY fucked up. this was your daughter in law. your son’s wife and mother of your grandchild/ren. protecting her meant protecting your grandchild as well and you chose to do nothing. I don’t know what the state of the relationship with Harry is but I can only imagine how huge of a step back it’s taken.
There are many toxic people who believe that if they something for you, that entitles them to be toxic to you, and you just have to shut up and take it. Meg is clearly used to such people (her dad). And she’s probably made Harry aware of how abnormal it all is.
Harry has definitely had to face a lot of hard truths these last 3 years.
He’s known them for years, but now he’s refusing to accept them. It may have been an earlier Charles bio (one with approval or leaks) or the Harry one. They wrote about how Harry knew he had been used for Charles and William’s PR, hated it, but accepted it as part of his position in the Firm.
Charles and William were never close in the past and Harry had a better relationship with his father p, and then I read that someone suggested to Harry that this present mess has brought Charles and William closer together in trying to save the image of the monarchy, and Harry just smiled wryly.
I wish this hadn’t gone all so sideways. I don’t think that Charles is the villain-villain here; I think William and the Middletons are and have been the big leakers and smear coordinators. I don’t let Charles off the hook – he didn’t understand how much more intense was the tabloid hate focused on Meghan (and Harry, but it was Meghan who took the brunt) than it was when he and Diana were having their issues.
Further, I think Charles’s biggest sin is that he failed to get William in hand. He HAD to have known that the bulk of leaks were from William and his associates. I truly think that William suffers from mental health problems/a personality disorder which is part of the reason why the Queen and Charles have been so lenient with His Laziness. But that doesn’t stop the pain and feeling of betrayal that Harry experienced as his wife and child were being destroyed.
By his brother. To allow his brother and SIL to not have to do any work. I mean my god.
I don’t think William suffers from any kind of mental health problems. He’s just a grade ‘A’ asshole of a person.
That’s totally possible, lol. I’d like to think that he’d have had the riot act read to him and been made to do his job if it were just that.
I think he is the perfect example of what you get when someone is coddled, kowtowed to and put on a pedestal their entire life. Especially when, in his formative years no less, he lost the one person who made any sort of attempt to bring him down from said pedestal and show him how normal people live and act. In his mind, he is #1 and always will be, and no one gets in the way of that, ever. There was no way he was going to turn out any different, unfortunately.
Were the bulk of the leaks coming from William? The leaks picked up a lot of steam when Harry and Meghan moved their operations to Buckingham Palace. I think racist courtiers we’re doing their best to smear Meghan.
No, the leaks stopped when the Sussexes moved offices to BP.
The leaks for 2018 are almost entirely KP based including the Me-gain nickname, and of course Kate putting Meghan in her place. The tiara story wasn’t KP based.
Actually the opposite happened: the leaks slowed considerably when they left KP. There was still the occasional story that was typically inaccurate (as KP sources could only play guessing games by that point).
Yeah I don’t understand the certainty that people here have that Charles threw Harry under the bus. I always assumed it was William, and I wouldn’t rule out the Yorks (as diversion from Andrew, and if there’s any truth to the rumor that Meghan announced her pregnancy at Eugenie’s wedding, out of spite). Charles didn’t have any motive to alienate Harry. His PR is pretty good.
And yes, years ago before Meghan there was talk of slimming down the monarchy – but Charles intended to keep his line (both sons) in it. It was the Yorks who were the most angry.
So I think Diana’s lack of appropriate emotional boundaries did negatively affect William but Charles’ negligence while this was going on is also a major problem. And you can see that hands-off (to the point of being neglectful) approach to parenting has had a negative effect on both brothers.
Betsy: “I don’t let Charles off the hook – he didn’t understand how much more intense was the tabloid hate focused on Meghan (and Harry, but it was Meghan who took the brunt) than it was when he and Diana were having their issues.”
Unless Charles doesn’t know how to read, or doesn’t have a TV set, he HAS SEEN/HEARD *ALL* of the abuse heaped on Meghan (and Harry, to a lesser extent). There is NO WAY he hasn’t been “briefed” as to the “tone” of “the people” who are writing comments, or the commentators/presenters (or whatever they’re called on British TV). HE KNOWS! And he HAS CHOSEN TO REMAIN SILENT!
All it would’ve taken is a few words/sentences, from him, and ESP. from TQ: “I am aware of the vitriol being aimed at my son, Harry, and his wife Meghan. There is no place for that kind of racism in our society. I would ask that this targeting stop” or something to that effect, to the press AND TO HIS/THEIR OWN FAMILY!
But no, then he wouldn’t benefit. Sad thing is, he lost a hell of a lot more than he thinks he gained.
You get it. This all day. All of the pitchforks are out for William as the *main* villain and for some reason Kate but I believe the definitive, first sourced tell-alls that will come out in the next 10 years or so will show the truth. This was Charles all day every day. Forget budget airline stunts. Forget Rose Hanbury stories. William’s an ass. But this is something worse. The future king of England has gone completely gone mad.
do we honestly thing one statement from a member of the RF would achieve anything, other than maybe a very short term, very slight decrease in the media? They have a free press.
Courtney, if an RR was told that they would be taken out of the Royal Rota if they continued to stoke racism/racist remarks in their columns, you’d better believe they’d think twice about what they write. Just check out that Buzzfeed piece on how Kate and Meghan did the SAME THING, and yet the way they wrote about Kate was a 180* on what they wrote about Meg (ie: Kate “speaks” flowers with her choice of bouquet flowers, yet Meg “ALMOST POISONS CHARLOTTE!! with HER choice. Yet both women used flowers in common!). Same thing with touching their pregnant bellies: Kate “tenderly cradles” her bump, Meg “can’t keep her hands off her bump!”
Here’s the link; go look, I’ll wait:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal
Charles and the Queen are afraid of William, because he’s too much like Diana at her worst. They don’t know how to deal with him, and as swirlmamad wrote, what we see now is the result of coddling and kowtowing to William. The Middletons do the same thing. There’s no one in his life who will sit him down and bring in him hand.
I think Charles feels a lot of guilt about how much crap William had to deal with when Diana and Charles were divorcing (things like William handing her Kleenex through the bathroom door and promising to get her the HRH back). It strained their relationship for years, and I think William milks it for all its worth so that Charles is afraid to say too much.
I’m glad you mentioned the Middletons. There is an aspect of this that seems to lead to them right? They keep mentioning deep seated issues. There have been talks about jealousy and Meghan and her family were embraced way more than the Middletons were. The writing on the wall for how they were going to handle it was there for Pippa’s wedding.
If In fact the Middletons are responsible for leaks, with or without the blessing of KP, I think everything adds up.
They can’t come out against the Middletons. It also makes sense why the Middletons went on a pap-thirsty beach trip over the holidays. It seems a bit ex-girlfriend on instagram.
Maybe they aren’t welcome. It also makes sense how you get Carole to do a mistress church pap stroll with Rose.
The Middletons were never fully accepted because everyone could see their desperate thirst. I think if you step back and look at who has taken the biggest back seat and ego-bruise to Meghans arrival, it’s starting to look like The Middletons. And I still feel like from even a PR stance, Kate not being invited to talks says a lot. As opposed to Camilla who isn’t trying to be or position herself as England’s new Queen.
That being said, I do think it’s obvious KP is trying to push down the Sussexes. I just never remember a time where the Middletons were so low key. I can’t believe that is not for a good reason. If the dirt that the Sussexes have leads to the Middletons, they can’t refuse the Sussexes requests. Outing the Middletons means the Middletons outing Williams affairs.
William will be a jerk brother, an ass husband, and a lazy entitled brat. It’s hard to make the argument that you can’t work because of family time, when the world learns that Williams taxpayer money and been going to the conquests of little Willy. Sounds like a great future monarch.
The pro-Kate articles, the pro-Carole interview, the disappearance of stories about James’s company making offensive products and the rape accusations against Matthews the elder? There’s a whole lot of Middleton involvement in the anti-Meghan crusade.
Charles should have sat down with each couple before they got married and said “Here’s the deal, you get 6 months to learn protocol and settle in, then I expect you to do X amount of events and Y amounts of patronages. Let’s discuss the types of charity work you want to do and coordinate our calendars for maximum impact. You’re part of the Firm now and we’re excited to have you but we expect your to work.”
Instead you have one do-nothing couple and one whoa-do-too-much couple. Honestly, I think Meghan just brings an American sensibility and modern philanthropy (think Gates Fdn, Angelina Jolie, et al) which is way more sophisticated than the BRF has ever implemented. The Hub Cookbook should have heralded a new era but instead the KP and BP teams were like “Meghan is SO hard to work for! She shows up every day expecting to work!”
I don’t get the whole “whoa, do too much” idea. She’s not supposed to do the work that is supposed to be the purpose of the BRF? That’s ridiculous. No wonder she AND HARRY want to leave.
Harry is the driving force behind all of this. Do not forget that. He has wanted out for years. They could have kept him but they didn’t understand that he was sick of the bullying. It was bullying; make no mistake.
I’m sure the Midds had a hand in it. But BP could have told the royal “reporters” STAHP and they would have. No one made a peep.
No wonder Prince Harry is fed up. Protecting his family is the most important.
BRF’s loss.
Out of all people in the family, Charles seemed to get what Meghan felt the most. At their wedding he accompanied her to the altar and he was also pictured quite a few times being very chatty and smiley with her mother.
Whoever is probably behind the leaks in the newspapers, I don’t think it was Charles. Nevertheless, he probably didn’t do anything against it either. Which, lets face it – a dad should always protect his children.
Like, seriosly, this is the worst outcome for the whole royal family. I just don’t understand how could the other royals not see it and prevent it from happening? It hurts the RF as much, if not more. They are loosing their stars H and M, and the trust of the people. Bad news and scandals all around.
And Meghan and Harry are basically left alone. She is used to it, but Harry leaves England, where he lived all his life. Like, imagine how hard this must be for him?
Aw, poor baby.
I do think he would have wanted them to stay, but he could have done a lot more to show them support. Obviously we don’t know what he did or didn’t do behind the scenes, but he could have issued public statements, spoken out against leaking courtiers, etc.
I wonder if any cash from the Duchy will come with conditions of access to Archie.
I think Charles played a role in the smear campaign, for sure. I actually don’t think he was the main person behind it – but notice how in the beginning (late 2018) we got so many stories about how Charles was sad about the rift between the brothers, Charles was the hero, etc. I think at that point in time Charles was at least okay with the negative campaign bc he could benefit from it. But we saw a steep drop off in those kinds of stories, and I think that’s when it went from a “Charles is using this to benefit himself” to “William is calling the shots in this particular area.”
And I think Charles has been playing games in the press for so long that he probably didn’t think he was doing anything “all that bad.” I definitely agree that he knew the value Meghan brought to the royal family. And I don’t think he wants Harry to spend large chunks of the year in Canada with his grandchild. AND, I think H&M were always part of Charles long term vision of the monarchy. But at some point, he lost control of the press and the coverage and so here we are (as I just said in another post.)
I think now we are seeing damage control from Charles with a sense of “how did this get so bad.”
Yeah I think he walked a fine line with the press over everything – he knows his sons and if he took sides he risked alienating one son over the other. We all know how pissy William is and it’s long been said that Charles has a complicated relationship with the Princes.
I think if he’d been seen to publicly defend Meghan, William would have had a tantrum and cut his already limited access to the Cambridges kids – he’s done it before.
Agree. Charles is also a known ditherer when it comes to decisive action. I think he was taken aback with the Sussexes popularity and Charles does not like to be outshone. I think he sat back and passively thought well William will knock them down a few pegs and it will all be good. Instead, everything snowballed, he kept passively dithering, William fed on his successful attacks, and here we are. I think both Charles and William have stupidly played and won the short game. Loosing the Sussexes though is loosing both their long games. I think Charles knows this. William, nah.
No, unlike before, this crisis has brought Charles and William closer together, something Harry acknowledged.
Both Charles and William want the Crown on their heads and they will not allow anybody, whether son or brother, to rock the boat.
But this is far from over. Apart from his kids, which senior family members will be at William’s coronation?
I’ve had a pet theory that Meghan had business advice from Charles when doing the cookbook, and that’s how she was able to get it pulled together and published so early in her time with the RF. It just seemed so like the kinds of partnerships he’s done say, with the whole Dumfries project; he’d be a good person to get advice from and enjoy the creativity of what she was doing.
I wonder though, if he expected it to be such a big hit, and if that was the start of a problem…
Are you serious, Meghan can network on her own very well.
She called up Marks&Spencer on her own and others for the SmartSet collection, did the same to British Vogue.
If Charles had help in any way or shape, it would’ve been leaked by Clarence House.
Part of the program with the Royal Family have with Meghan was not letting them take credit for her work.
It was reported after book came out that she met several times with Charle’s team on marketing. Marketing as a Royal is different and she went to his team for advice.
The Grenfell book was the start of the problems. William and the Queen were the first royals to visit Grenfell and the racially diverse gave them a very warm welcome and were genuinely appreciative of the visit. There were shouts for them to come back, and William shouted back, ‘ We will! We will!’, obviously pleased for once that he was popular. He did return privately, l believe with Harry and Kate. The residents then specifically asked to meet Meghan , who was not yet married but living with Harry. What happened after that is unclear but William and Kate’s involvement in Grenfell somehow faded away, and Meghan emerged as the main royal helping over Grenfell.
We do know that Meghan wanted to keep the book project separate , although the book came out under the auspices of the Royal Foundation, and then came accusations of Meghan not being a team player and then the split came. William really sees Meghan and Harry as stealing his thunder….as though he ever had any to start with.
@JA Lowcountry Lady – I hadn’t read that. It just made sense that she’d had some kind of outside advice, mostly because of the timeline of how quickly things progressed (less than a year) from her finishing up on Suits, moving to the UK, starting to make appearances, meeting with patronages, and getting the cookbook out that September. Seemed to me she might not have been in the country long enough/established the connections she needed at that point to have the cookbook as polished a project as it was.
@Peg – as I said above. It’s not a criticism of Meghan, just my thought that to get the book done so fast with everything else going on, she likely benefited from some outside advice.
My other point was, if as I suspected she got that advice from Charles, it was evidence that at least early on they had a friendly relationship.
I agree he had a role, if not as active a role as W&K and the Middletons. He has used Harry for his own PR, used Harry for William’s PR for years. If he assumed Harry was going to keep putting up with it? That’s his own mistake.
As you pointed out yesterday, Harry and Meghan stayed with him at Castle Mey in 2018. They didn’t stay with him in 2019. If they suspected Charles was any part of this, or were hurt about him letting William run amok? They’re not going to spend time with him in a remote Scottish castle playing nice.
I still stand by the belief that I only think Charles became involved in the smear campaign against Meghan when Harry began talk of quitting the royal family. I think they blamed Meghan and feared she gave him the courage to actually do it. I believe that talk began before the wedding and intensified after everyone found out Meghan was pregnant. I think he and William were trying to run Meghan off. I do not think they realized how little Harry cared about royal status and I don’t think they believed he’d actually walk away from it all to be with Meghan. I think Charles is trying to spin this now as a reluctant father who bankrolled everything and having to let his son go.
“There is anger at the moment. But if Harry and Meghan are prepared to enter into the spirit of this new arrangement” —making sure not to appear to cash in on their titles and reputations—“I think the Queen, Charles and William will [support them]. “
That’s sounds almost like a veiled threat. So as long as they continue to do what we want, we’ll support them financially. And we want to limit how they make their future earnings cause in reality we still want them financially dependent on us.
Also, Charles should have put being a father first. But I guess he didn’t have the best role model on how to be one and didn’t truly know how.
Charles is super freaked out he won’t be able to use his money to control them.
I don’t think Charles actively leaked stuff. In fact I think he was quite passive with it because
1) he thought he wasn’t too bad and that it would all go away
2) wanted to wait till the dust settled to see how he could swoop in
And now since neither of those has happened, he’s gone whining to the press like he used to do with William
Until Charles puts William in his place (which I doubt) it will always be this way. The RF will always defer to the future King or Queen even if’s it’s wrong to do so…PERIOD. If Charles has a connection with Meghan it still wouldn’t put his need to ensure the future of the Monarchy ahead of that connection. William comes first. Meghan figured this out a long time ago that is why she had been planning their exit for months.
Charles is the future King, so shouldn’t the RF defer to him?
I don’t believe she was the one planning the exit or if she did, it’s at Harry’s behest.
This sounds like PR put out by Charles to coax Harry back into the net. All the usual hacks are writing similar pieces along the lines of ‘when you’re ready to come back Harry the doors are open’. I think the UK RW media literally cannot understand why Harry loves his bi-racial wife….
Or understand why Harry chose his bi racial wife over them. The consensus seems to be that they could drive Meghan out, Harry would divorce her and marry an English Rose and continue in his role as whipping boy. H&M said f@$k that and bounced.
And it’s interesting that it’s only Harry that they keep welcoming back into the fold….no room for Meghan and Archie.
There’s no welcome mat for Archie in particular as post divorce he would be regarded as Harry’s bastard bi-racial child. AKA his mistake along with his mother.
That was actually a think historically in the UK when they had courts of bastarding….
@Mignionette
I usually agree with your comments but in no way is Archie a bastard. I would like to know the reasoning for that comment. There are a lot of ways they could smear and undermine Archie but being a bastard child is certainly not one of them.
WTH Mignionette??? If you’re going to spew, using an antiquated term, at least know what the word means.
“Bastard” used to refer to a child born OUTSIDE OF WEDLOCK/MARRIAGE. Archie was born to two parents MARRIED TO EACH OTHER. IF they divorce, ever, that will NEVER change Archie’s being born IN “WEDLOCK”. JFC!
No, it makes sense if you are thinking of it in their (twisted) terms.
Meghan obviously harassed and strongarmed Harry into marrying her, therefore their marriage wasn’t valid because it was under duress and Archie is essentially illegitimate!
A bunch of garbage obviously, but I really do think that is how they would think of it. I doubt they’d get into legal particulars but that is how they would prefer to think of it and treat the issue, in their minds.
@Soupie and OG – just so we’re clear that is not how I think, rather that is what I am inferring reading between the lines of all the pieces where UK journo’s are ingferring that Harry could walk away from Meghan and Archie. So by implication they see Archie as insignificant.
Again not my view but this is not a suprise at that strata of society.
@OG – This is what I was referring to;
“When (Anne) Boleyn was beheaded, Elizabeth I—like Mary I before her—was declared a bastard, and Henry VIII married Jane Seymour”
So yes the RF did historically even declare their illegitimate children in this way when it suited them, and as I alluded to this was a historical thing which no longer happens today. My point however was to register in peoples minds that this is what this strata of society historically belived and given what we have seen behvior wise of late I don’t personally feel that Archie is close to his uncle and cousins.
@Mignionette
So by your definition of a bastard, William, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie, Zara and Peter are all bastards because their parents are divorced?
Please read my comment again . The UK had actual courts of bastarding. Whilst not a thing today, my comment was meant ti demonstrate that I have real reservations about how well rcieved Archie would be if the UK media got their wish and created division between his parents.
Also to answer your question more correclty yes William is an utter bastard.
I doubt many remember the news and debates going on i. The UK before Diana died. If Charles been old enough to have had more children with Camilla or whomever his next wife had been, there may have been some legitimate questions along those lines because he was divorced from Diana when she died. One of the reasons many people believe that Diana was killed (myself included) is because of the debate if Charles may have still been married in the eyes of The Church of England as head of the church. That debate was put to rest when Diana died because he was “widowed” in the eyes of god.
Meh, the moment I read “as long as they don’t cash in on their titles” blah blah blah, I lost interest. You either love yr son unconditionally or you don’t love them enough to not attach strings. Charles is just as toxic as his son William, always looking for”what’s in it for me”. The Sussexes are much more better off away from these miserable people.
Yes, Harry and Meghan cut their deal and now they need to stay far away. Concessions will come with too many strings attached. You can’t trust Charles in all this mess.
Considering the effectiveness of The Prince’s Trust, does is have to stay in the family. I am pretty sure there is a competent group of people running it and if they need a face for it, outsource it.
I think Idris Elba would be a good choice.
The Prince’s Trust is too large to have a very part-time figurehead, as appealing as Idris Elba may be. It employs over 600 people and is one of the largest charities in the UK. He can continue as one of their high-profile ambassadors, while Charles’s nephew takes over the bigger day-to-day role in-house.
Ohhhhh…gotcha. So, legit people are running the day to day things.
I really don’t think that Linley has the profile to lead the Princes Trust, which has been a success because of Charles’ ability to attract big money, his personality and genuine interest in creating opportunities for young people.
This is rubbish. There’s nothing to stop Charles from working with Harry and Meghan. They are becoming minor royals, not stopping work and not renouncing the familial relationship.
Growing weary of the “the royals are hapless pawns of shadowy courtiers” excuse. First of all I don’t believe they are and second of all if they are pawns they are pretty useless and dumb. 😒
But they are pawns, read up on the history of the British royalty, even when they had divine rights and the power to order beheadings they were still dependent on courtiers.
I am sure Hilary Mantel must be watching the fate of the House of Windsor unfold with much interest.
Welp. He should have done more to protect his son and his son’s wife. You reap what you sow.
I don’t know why anyone thinks that the man who openly attacked the mother of his children in the press after emotionally abandoning her the day that Harry was born would not have a hand in Meghan’s smear campaign. He couldn’t handle Diana’s star power, do you think he can handle Meghan’s?
I’m also of the opinion that at the root of this, Charles is to blame for the way he raised his sons, who can’t even count on their father to step up when he should (for example: Meghan’s smear campaign). If William cautioned Harry about the swiftness Of his relationship with Meghan and that upset Harry, Charles should have guided William on how to make it right with Harry, organized a family weekend somewhere for everyone to get to know Meghan on a deeper level. Spoiler alert: He didn’t.
Instead, Charles used the fracturing of the brothers relationship as an opportunity to have leverage over his sons and actively uses them as human meat shields in the press.
Meghan just ditched a father because of the selfish leech he is, why would she possibly encourage Harry to stick around to endure the same type emotionally abuse, only fancier?
Yes to all of this. Even if Charles wasn’t participating in the smear campaign he didn’t step in to stop the leaks that were coming from KP. He probably thought not getting involved was his way of not picking sides, not choosing one child over the other, but in this situation I don’t think telling KP to put a cork in it is choosing Harry over William. It would’ve been looking at the bigger picture and protecting the asset that put the BRF back on the map i.e. Meghan.
Exactly GG. While I do believe that we make mistakes when younger, and you can (and hopefully!) do learn, grow, and change behaviors from those mistakes, we do know (by proof) that Charles has NOT changed. He is still the same selfish, jealous, ego-driven man that gaslighted his first wife, with still keeping on with Camilla, from the get-go (while he may’ve stopped his physical relationship with Cam for a bit, he NEVER ended his far more damaging emotional relationship with her).
I’m sure Charles LOVED the attention he got for stepping into the wedding, and being kind to Doria. It all changed when H&M proved far more popular on their first tour (akin to the adoration of Diana in Australia). And it’s not stopped since. I really do think he fed into William’s jealousies, like an ear worm. Otherwise, why NO WORD OF SUPPORT for H&M?
Except – William and Kate were more popular than Charles, especially around the time of their wedding, and when George was born. We did not see this kind of campaign launched against them. Indeed bad stories about them are shut down or edited or removed, especially Kate and her family. If Charles was out to tear down those more popular, he would have started years ago with William and the Middletons, and we didn’t see that.
There is just no comparison between the popularity William and Kate had vs the near levels of histeria surrounding Meghan and Harry.
Bill and Katie were a popular couple whilst Harry and Meg are like celebrity marmite and that is why they occupy so many column inches.
I don’t think Charles thought they’d leave. He may be the same as his mother in that he buried his head about the deterioration of Harry & William’s relationship. But I believe out of everyone in the family, he and Camilla genuinely opened their arms to Meghan. Thing is…there’s a whole ass family with petty jealousies leaking stuff about Meghan and he didn’t stop it. He’s going to be King. He’s the pseudo head of the Firm now. He has to step up to the plate and reign in William and the rest now or he’s going to lose Harry.
Charles does have power. He can withhold the PoW title from William. There’s no law that says William gets invested immediately upon the Queen’s death. It’s at the discretion and edict of the reigning monarch. William & Kate…so smug in their current position could find themselves waiting for years to be upgraded. Yes, they’d have the upgraded money from the duchy, but not those titles.
As for the Prince’s Trust, who knows what will happen. Harry and Meghan have said they will serve the monarchy. They just want the freedom to raise their kid out of a toxic situation. Harry may acquiesce and head the trust or Viscount Linley will take over.
It is not Harry’s job to do anything with the Prince’s Trust. It is basically the Prince of Wales Trust. William will be the POW, he is the only one of the brothers who should be called upon to be involved with it.
Tired of people insisting it is Harry’s job to do William’s work for him.
I disagree. I actually belive that Charles had a hand in the deterioriation of his sons relationship. However I think he didnt realise it would go this far and backfire so spectacuarly. The Heirs need Harry to divert away from their shit shows and now they’re in a pickle. They pushed H&M too far in IMHO.
Then maybe he should have done more.
I like Charles, always have. I was one of the few people on earth who took his side during the Charles vs. Diana wars. I think he will be a good king, when he gets the chance.
The sight of Charles walking Meghan part of the way down the aisle moved me to tears. As a woman who has lost her father, it was especially poignant to me. And I especially appreciated how kind he was to Doria, considering Kate and the Pork, oh sorry, York sisters couldn’t bother to show any respect during the ceremony. So I will NEVER understand why he did NOTHING to protect Meghan during the campaign of abuse that she had to endure, especially while she was carrying his grandchild.
If Charles is upset, he needs to realize that he brought all of this on himself. Coming from a family like the Windsors, it’s understandable that he has an ‘every man for himself’ attitude. But he should have observed what that cost BOTH his sons and done something to break the cycle.
Really??!!?? Then he should have acted like it.
Suck it Chuck. That is all.
What’s the context for the photo with the black gentleman? Harry looks…. not happy and Charles looks… sheepish and/or conciliatory?
The royal family is a a very public mess but the monarchy will be fine. This thread is evidence of that.
I cannot believe that after a year-long smear campaign againt Meghan when Charles did nothing to support her, his son or his grandson, a campaign that started with the publication of this hagiography, so many people are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
One of the clearest sign, at least to me, that William’s hands were not clean in this campaign cas his meeting with members of the royal pack. Celebitches were rightfully outraged that he held such meetings to protect his reputation with the very people who were tearing apart his sister-in-law, instead of using his power to tell them to back off. Fair enough, I agree.
But you know who else has that power with the royal pack? Who has experience in truning around the reputation of a widely-disliked woman through puff pieces and favorable coverage? Yeah, that would be Charles. But he did nothing, because he does not give a single f*ck about anyone but himself – and I guess Camilla.
But what should I expect any better? This is the same guy who was selling out his two sons, just a few years after their mother’s death, to prop himself up.
I think the Royals believe they are the absolute epitome of everything. For them, it was “enough” for the Queen to go out with Meghan 1 time, and “enough” for Charles to walk her down the aisle. It was even “enough” for Kate to go to Wimbledon with Meghan twice. It’s such a “privilege” to be within their environs that anyone there should be grovelling with appreciation just to be present. Harry and Meghan have blown that idea out of the water. Who in their right mind would want to join this toxic family now? What’s to become of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis? Are we going to see the same story play out twenty years from now? Based on everything we’ve seen over the past 30 years, the answer is yes. Charlotte will likely be okay IF she grows up to be pretty and thin (god help her if she isn’t). she forges her own interests acceptable to the royals, and keeps a narrow friends group made up of other white aristocrats (like Anne with all of her horsey stuff). If she shows any desire to make a life for herself, and if she doesn’t share Kate’s body type (I hate saying this but it’s undeniable), and if she is the slightest bit outspoken, or rebellious, the media will make her life hell. Louis’s wife (assuming he marries a woman) will get absolute hell as well.
Too bad, so sad. They had plenty of opportunities to make Meghan feel welcome and stand up for her. But nope, egos got in the way. So Charles is stuck with lazy William and kate. It’s what the uk deserves at this point.
Maybe he should have supported his sons family and this all wouldn’t be happening. If they would have put a stop to the British racist media bullying then they wouldn’t be faced with them having no choice but to leave it.
I’ve wondered how much the ghost of Diana has to do with ALLLLL of this. And I’m surprised there isn’t more chatter about it.
It would be completely understandable for Harry to have some kind of resentment with his father over his mother’s death. On some level, maybe even a little blame.
As we read reports that this a “toxic” family with “bad blood” — I can’t help but wonder how much of that is unresolved stuff around the death of his mother. And who could blame him?
Wah.
I have an issue with several of those quotes. “Charles has always envisioned WORKING [emphasis added] with both of his sons” — um, Charles is aware that William doesn’t want to work, right? I mean, Charles is supposed to be the smartest in the royal family (admittedly, that is not saying much). So he must know that he was never really going to “work” with William (or whoever William married)?
Also, “not to appear to cash in on their titles and reputations” — but the royal family all trademarked their own brands, like Charles, William & Kate. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent are allowed to profit off of their titles and royal connections with book deals, etc. So what is the problem with Harry and Meghan “selling” their brand the same way others in the royal family are doing? Could it be . . . that Harry and Meghan will be so much more successful at it, that the *real* problem is jealousy, and fear that Harry and Meghan will be more popular, relevant, and influential in the future than Charles or William?
Sorry Charlie. Even for the King of England actions (or the lack of them) has consequences. You don’t seem to have learned the lesson with Disna. Maybe internalize it this time.
There is no reason the Princes Trust can’t partner with theSussex Royal foundation at some point. They clearly have the drive and passion. How this transition will work out eventually depends on all involved. I think the Sussexes are sincere in wanting to continue to serve in a limited capacity and not completely cut themselves off. Harry is upset right now but if he and Meghan both want to serve the Queen and Commonwealth somewhat, this may be a solution. I think there are some hard feelings now, but eventually they’ll have to work something out. The worst part is William , his leaking and the tabloids wanting punishment.
I’m certain that Charles loves Harry, but he’s did nothing to intervene when his new daughter in law was being dragged through the mud, lied about in the press and used as a distraction from his pedophile brother. If he wanted to work with both of his sons, he should have been more supportive. Harry and Meghan were forced out and no amount of denying it makes it any different. The whole line of succession photo stuff has been shoved down everyones throats for months. We get it. William and George are the only ones that matter. Imagine being the “spare” in that scenario. Especially after you have a child of your own, you wouldn’t want them treated as lesser than other grandchildren. I don’t know how you repair the damage of your own brother leaking horrible stories about you to the press.
“I’m certain that Charles loves Harry…”
Or as Charles says: “Whatever love means…”
They aren’t normal people. Imagine having to call different secretaries for each of your family members, just to talk to them I’m person.
i find it astonishing that the Royal family are acting like a bunch of sulky teenagers…ffs..iv seen kids in a youth club shake hands after a disagreement and move on. who needs republicans when we have this lot?
just my opinion :: Since the RF and people of UK had no problem with rr’s trashing DDoS , did not come out and support , defend them, then they cannot now object to rr’s hit pieces on anyone in RF b/c the World is watching this Witch Hunt and question would be “Why was it OK to trash H&M then ?” rr’s have open season on rf and I am petty enough to enjoy . Also , with this all the stories about w+k , Andrew , all of them will come out during this …. I hope . Karma is beautiful ..
Best wishes and vindication for DDoS