Before Dan Wootton heard about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s quiet visit to the Queen on Thursday, he barfed out an unhinged column, asking why the Sussexes weren’t “attacking” Prince Andrew. The main thesis is that Wootton believes that Harry will “slam” Prince Charles, Prince William and the Duchess of Cornwall in his memoir, so why is Harry sparing Andrew? Here’s the thing, and I can see this so, so clearly: when Harry’s book comes out later this year, it will be a classy memoir mostly about mental health and his time in the British Army and maybe falling for Meghan too. And once his memoir comes out, every royal reporter will say “well, of course he didn’t really attack Charles and Camilla, because he still wants to stay on their good side, we knew he would do that!” Like they haven’t been ripping out their hair for the past year over what they believe is some kind of burn book. Anyway, some highlights from Wootton:
‘Harry’s bloody book!’: Despite a plethora of problems and crises, behind-the-scenes at the royal households, the royal autobiography to end all royal autobiographies has become a persistent talking point. There is now a widespread acceptance that Prince Charles, Camilla and Prince William are likely to be left battered and bruised in a literary sense in Harry’s forthcoming burn-all-bridges-to-seek-revenge tell-all…. But courtiers are equally obsessed with another question: Why are Harry and Meghan unlikely to come for the royal outcast Prince Andrew?
Harry is suspiciously close to Beatrice & Eugenie! But there is a growing sense that Harry has decided to spare the Yorks the same sort of scathing treatment being prepared for his father and brother and their wives, at least in part due to his close relationship with cousins Princess Beatrice and Eugenie. Courtiers point to the fact Oprah – close friends with the couple – seemingly never asked about the Andrew/Epstein scandal in the highly controlled CBS interview.
The Yorks didn’t appreciate the Oprah interview: Despite the absence of any direct criticism of Andrew or Fergie – who Harry and Meghan are known to view fondly – the relationship was tested in the wake of the Oprah interview. At a society event in London last year a few weeks after the broadcast, close friends of Beatrice and Eugenie told me they were stunned by their vocal criticism of the Sussexes for dragging their family’s reputation through the mud. If the two sisters had turned on their beloved cousin Harry, it showed just how much the Royal Family had given up on the Sussexes. But something changed over the past few months.
The York-Sussex thaw: The feeling among courtiers is that the York’s – especially Beatrice and Eugenie – will be able to act as a bridge between the Sussexes and the Cambridges in the future. But there is also simmering astonishment that self-proclaimed social warriors Harry and Meghan will avoid criticism of Andrew’s friendship with known paedophile Epstein, while attacking other relatives.
A royal insider speaks: ‘A royal insider tells me: ‘The fear factor around this book is off the scale. Of course, the households publicly say they are not interested and have no plans to comment on any royal book because so many are published; but there’s never been a situation quite like this. Even when the Princess of Wales cooperated with Andrew Morton, she had the veneer of deniability. These are Harry’s own words. They might want to remain above the fray, but that could become impossible depending what bombshells are unleashed. Clarence House and Kensington Palace now accept their principles will be in the firing line. There is an expectation that the Queen and Prince Philip will be lovingly praised.’
The royal insider continues: ‘But there is also an increasing confidence that Prince Andrew and his former wife will be left alone. Harry and Meghan are thought to be very conscious of the impact the Epstein scandal has had on Beatrice and Eugenie. They won’t want to add to the pile on. Meghan is also very fond of Sarah, the Duchess of York, who she feels has had a not too dissimilar journey. They’re not expected to bear the brunt of Harry’s anger and frustration with the royal establishment.’
As I said, when Harry’s book comes out and he barely mentions Camilla, all of these same reporters and columnists will say that they knew all along that Harry would pull his punches, for this and that reason. The truth is that Harry has never given any indication that he was going to “slam” anyone. These are guilty consciences screaming into the void, remembering all the times they belittled Harry, smeared him and attacked his wife. As for the Andrew thing… I was honestly surprised that Oprah didn’t ask about Andrew during the interview too. Oprah claimed that she wasn’t given any guidance and no topic was off-limits, so I guess she simply wanted to focus more on Harry and Meghan’s story. As for Harry and Meghan’s closeness to the York princesses… Wootton is targeting the Yorks, that much is clear. I hope Eugenie and Jack GTFO and soon.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, CBS.
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- Britain’s Prince Harry (L-R), Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice seen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, central London 13 June 2015 following the Trooping the Colour ceremony which mark’s Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday. Photo: Patrick van Katwijk / NETHERLANDS OUT POINT DE VUE OUT – NO WORE SERVICE -,Image: 517603176, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: UK ONLY – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no
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- The Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of Sussex after the wedding of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.,Image: 534311896, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- (L-R) – Princess Beatrice, husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank departs a Service of Thanksgiving for HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK on Tuesday 29 March, 2022.,Image: 673802088, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Princess Eugenie departs a Service of Thanksgiving for HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK on Tuesday 29 March, 2022.,Image: 673802090, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 11: American rapper A$AP Rocky (ASAP Rocky, Rakim Athelaston Mayers) arrives at the Fenty Beauty And Fenty Skin Celebration Hosted By Rihanna held at Goya Studios on February 11, 2022 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 661748814, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: A$AP Rocky, ASAP Rocky, Rakim Athelaston Mayers, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- The Duke of Sussex, Patron, visited the Rugby Football Union (RFU) All Schools programme at Lealands High School in Luton RFU All Schools was launched to increase the number of secondary state schools playing rugby union, with the aim of introducing 750 additional schools to the game.
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- 02-10-2019 Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at the Creative Industries and Business Reception at the British High Commissioner’s residence, in Johannesburg, South Africa. A meeting with representatives of the British and South African business communities, including local youth entrepreneurs on day ten of their tour in Africa. .
Wooton is just insane.
He is but it’s also frustrating that after years of the Andrew/Harry situations being conflated in the press now we’re starting to lean towards a ‘Harry is sympathetic to the Yorks’ narrative with blazing sub-text of he’s a bad person because he actually likes/endorses Andrew and that’s why he’s not publicly slamming him.
Wooton had a massive crush on Harry. He use to tweet drooling over Harry’s pics, this is personal for him.
That makes a lot of sense, that Wooten feels personally slighted because his crush didn’t like him back.
A similar situation to Piers Morgan and Meghan then. Makes sense.
Out of all the RR, Wootton is the ultimate Kool-Aid maker and drinker. I relished imagining his face when the Sussexes pulled their Bond-esque visit to HMTQ. He was foaming at the mouth with rage, I bet.
This is also another tactic to try to align Harry with Andrew. Tons of Sussex haters lump them into the same category and compare the Queen’s fondness for Harry with her preference of Andrew. This is absolutely calculated. It’s disgusting.
Harry has nothing at all to do with Andrew. I remember the Sussexes were asked about the scandal and they just said that they had no comments to make.
If the family didn’t do anything wrong and bent over backwards for Harry and Meghan as they say, then they have nothing to worry about. But the fact that there’s this constant fear about what’s going to be in the book says that the family is guilty of wrongdoing and ill treatment. I agree that Harry is barely going to mention these people. I think he will talk about some incidents but he won’t name names just like in the Oprah interview. I do think Palace aides are going to be slammed in the book though.
Agree @Amy Bee! The memoir will be as unremarkable (if not more) than Finding Freedom. For those who say he’ll have to drop juicy truth bombs for the publisher to be happy, they don’t know a thing about publishing. Harry will make the publisher SO much money and do such a great job promoting the book, it won’t matter whether he goes for blood or keeps it to a sweet story about his mom, the military, and Meghan. People will buy the book regardless, it will make The NY Times best seller list, and all of these stupid RR speculation reports will be moot.
Hee. It would serve these folks right if Harry is leaving the _real_ takedown to The Crown/Peter Morgan. Let an expert work, I’d say…🤣🤣🤣😈😈😈😎😎
Andrew and Sarah weren’t mentioned, I believe, because I don’t think that the Sussex’s have any type of relationship with them and they weren’t the ones making racist remarks, sending their staff to testify against them or cutting them off financially. I don’t believe that Andrew or Sarah loom very large in their world at all.
Harry and Meghan had absolutely nothing to do with the crimes and excesses of the Yorks. Harry doesn’t need to address it because it’s not his problem.
Yeah, this is where I am too, Harla. Harry and Meghan didn’t have anything to say about Pedo and Fergie because they only met on the public occasions we all witnessed, and the few family moments that have occurred during the pandemic.
As for Harry’s book, the rr is showing, yet again, that they don’t know Harry at all. I cannot imagine a world where he is going to write a burn book. This is going to be his life story, of finding love and happiness.
Why doesn’t Dan rotten go away forever. I get the feeling that Harry and Beatrice aren’t as close as him and Eugene.
So while I can see Beatrice being all in her feelings about the interview, I can’t see eugine feeling the same way
Maybe Oprah did ask about Andrew and Epstein but that was part that wasn’t shown because Harry likely doesn’t know that much about it. The interview and the book are about Harry’s life. How likely is it that outside of royal events and vacations/play dates with Bea and Eugenie as children that he has been around PA a lot?
I’m sure she did ask, but it was edited out. Those types of interviews are always highly edited for time and clarity. Keeping in an Andrew question to people who aren’t directly involved in the scandal doesn’t make much sense, when there was so many direct events to ask about.
I think H&M told Oprah Andrew was off limits. I know she said there were no restrictions at the beginning of the interview, but there is zero chance they didn’t go over the approved topics beforehand. She simply said that for effect.
Tell me you dont know how integrity works without telling me you dont know how integrity works.
Word, Charm.
Let’s leave Harry and Meghan out of this conversation entirely. If that was the way Oprah worked, she would still need a last name, instead of being an icon.
Well Meghan and Harry both have terrible fathers so I imagine they bond with the York sisters over that. I think Andrews deeds are obviously terrible, what more can Harry add to that? And I’m sure Andrew has always been on the periphery of Harry’s life, not a central figure.
Wootton is frothing at the mouth deranged. I think he makes most of it up. And I think it’s dawning on him that he backed the wrong horse (i.e. PW) and that’s made him even more desperate and unhinged.
On the topic of Andrew, Meghan did mention him briefly in the Oprah interview, in the context of the York family being very kind to her. I guess that might have been Oprah’s opportunity to ask the questions but she must have decided that was outside the scope of the interview.
This guy is a damn fool.
If I was Harry the introduction to the book would be about how his life has been defined by just a few images good and bad that have been used to define his life to the public good or bad. For example walking in his mother’s funeral procession, the Nazi uniform image, the naked Vegas photos, him interviewing in Afghanistan and then running to his helicopter, and how this is his chance to tell the full story of his life and the lessons he has learned and it is all focused on his life and how Meghan helped him as well. That’s what I expect him to do, especially as these books tend to the lay the groundwork for the high paid speaking circuit so it is more geared toward self-help than a burn book.
I think the media are just hyping things up about the book for their own benefit because they just need to write stories about the Sussexes. It has already been made very clear that it is a three part book deal spread over the next 15 – 20 years. This first book will concentrate on Harry’s early years and army career. The other two books are unlikely to be written in The Queen’s lifetime. So Billy and Kate need to watch out.
This is his answer to not knowing about them visiting Harry’s grandmother. He’s continuously frothing at the mouth over anything and everything Sussex (especially the made up stuff in his head) that I think he needs to be tested for rabies.
Pretty sure this was out before news broke of Harry and Meghan’s visit.
This is just typical Dan W with nothing else he’s allowed to write so he’s filling his quota with more drivel.
Well — that is quite a spin, since Harry has never been particularly associated with Andrew — or Epstein (thank goodness) — and has never said anything about him, for this “reporter” (this mouthpiece) to turn that around and claim Harry supports Andrew *because* he has said nothing but remains on friendly terms with at least one cousin. If the queen and Charles and William can’t control Andrew, and in fact allow him to remain front and center at their events, and in fact the queen clearly wants him front and center and at her side — what is *Harry* supposed to do? Unbelievable scapegoating. It is really something to see the royals and their pets in the press try to conflate Harry with Andrew. They’re obviously very different people, and Harry has never been even accused of a crime, let alone one so horrific as Andrew’s. He is not responsible for his awful family members.
I’m guessing this memoir will be like the Oprah interview, and if anything, even more restrained and dignified (the fact Dan Wootton thinks the Oprah interview was some kind of bombshell is hilarious because Meghan and Harry clearly said much less than they could have). Harry isn’t trying to get into a mud-flinging squabble. He’s trying to present himself as a serious philanthropist and champion of mental health.
Why does PH have to do or say anything about Andrew? It isn’t like he is the one who paid off his settlement with taxpayer money or walked down the isle of the church after that settlement went through to the victim who was raped and trafficked as a minor. He keeps peddling that KP faux outrage for everything PH, but outside of that little isle no one is falling for it anymore.
I hate how the tabloid hyperbole, i.e. stating something that’s true to correct misinformation, is equated with “slamming” the subject of the statement.
And that the tactic is so relentless and pervasive, it’s successful.
So gross, so awful.
Harry shouldn’t have to answer any questions about Andrew because not only would he not have been a witness to anything, he’s not responsible for supporting Andrew or his lifestyle. The Queen is first and foremost responsible for that and Charles and William later on because they will inherit that mess and at some point be responsible for it.
It would be like asking Zara or Peter Philipps about Andrew. He’s their uncle and nothing more.
Wootton is just a troll who has also alleged to have been a predator to coworkers so maybe he should take a few seats with it comes to sex pests.
I’m not at all surprised that Oprah didn’t ask about Andrew. Rape and sex trafficking aren’t some kind of seasoning you can sprinkle onto an interview – they take over everything. Andrew’s words were already out there, but H&M’s words were not – the interview was about H&M telling their story.
It’s fascinating to me that these “royal experts” are never tired of being wrong.
I learned my lesson with the Oprah interview, thinking it would be just run of the mill dull. I think he will ‘go there’ in the memoir, but the British press will make anything into a scandal, so he won’t win with them. He just has to do what’s best for his story.
He will not say anything too damaging in this first book while the Queen is still alive but who knows what will be in the other books part of this three book deal.
Why do they think Harry even has any details to “slam” Andrew? I highly doubt the 4 or 5 times a year Harry when was even in the same room with Andrew (and I might be overestimating that with this weird family!) that Andrew was bragging about all the underage women he raped since the last time they spoke. I bet that if you ever could get Harry to say anything about Andrew, the most he could say is maybe “I’m not surprised, he always gave me the creeps.”
Also, for what it’s worth, Sarah was allegedly one of the few people who has been depicted to help Meghan when she was first introduced (teaching her to curtsy, etc.).
“…the royal autobiography to end all royal autobiographies has become a persistent talking point.” No Dan, YOU’RE the one (as have the other scummy tabloid writers) who has made Harry’s memoir a persistent talking point, and no matter how you try to align Harry with Andrew you’re simply grasping at straws. The book isn’t about taking shots at his family, it’s about HIM and will likely focus on his struggles with his mental health, his ways of dealing and healing with it, meeting Meghan, his military work and charity work. I’m sure he’ll refer obliquely to the problems he faced with his family over leaving royal life but it isn’t going to be some salacious tell-all.
And —
“ There is now a widespread acceptance that Prince Charles, Camilla and Prince William are likely to be left battered and bruised in a literary sense in Harry’s forthcoming burn-all-bridges-to-seek-revenge tell-all….”
Say what, now?! It’s a frickin’ MEMOIR, not a tell-all, but they do keep acting like they’ve seen the galleys of Harry’s book all along. Wootton needs to seek help for this Adderall-fueled hyperbole.
@C-Shell — LOL at “Adderall-fueled hyperbole”! Wootton must have gone to the same school of “Barbara Cartland-inspired frothy writing skillz” that Angela Levin went to.
@Jaded — 🤣, except Cartland was a far better writer, and never pretended her writing was nonfiction. I agree that Wootton and Levin inhabit the same mucky depths. *shudder*
He’s more likely to spill the secrets of the media and how they operate behind the royal curtain than he would to bag his father or Camilla. It’s the media that should be worried about what he says about them!
This first book will concentrate on his early years and career in the army.
If he did criticize Andrew he’d be accused by the tabs of being “disrespectful to his grandmother” by slamming her favorite son. I can see that happening.
I think Harry’s first book will likely be a mild and contained reflection of him coming of age and the challenges around him.
I, for one, look forward to his next book written after the queen passes. Or watching the BM collective head explosion when Meghan inevitably announces her book deal. Those will be more fun to watch.
Exactly. The media are just cooking up fuss about the book now for their own gains.
If Harry ever decides to truly slam his family (which I actually don’t think he will since he wouldn’t even say who made the comment about Archie’s skin color), he’ll wait until after Granny dies.
OMG I just had the thought that it was Kate who made the Archie skin color comment! I do hope eventually we find out who really said it, that person deserves to be outed.
I think it’s highly likely that more than one person said those things.
I’m starting to think it was her too.
The mistake the rota continues to make is projecting the bitter, vengeful bullying from KP onto Harry’s memoir. The truth does not make a meal of revenge; it shows its face and that is enough.
William probably texted him after learning (thru media) that H & M were there when he wasn’t.Incandescent I’m sure.
One thing I hope and I think will happen is that he will praise his late mother to the skies. The Tina Brown book apparently won’t be kind to his mother. Harry’s book will counter that.