Prince Harry has had a lot to say about his stepmother, Queen Consort Camilla.
In his new book, “Spare,” which Harry has been promoting, and in interviews with television media, Prince Harry accused his father’s wife, Camilla, of leaking stories and private conversations about the royals to the British media, with the intent of improving her soiled reputation. The prince made the allegations while promoting his memoir, which is full of intrigue that brings readers behind the palace walls and into the mind of Prince Harry.
Two television interviews were aired on January 8 and 9, in which Prince Harry accused some specifically named royal family members of colluding with the British media to gain favorable coverage for themselves, at the expense of others in the family. He singled out his stepmother Camilla, saying she was seeking to repair her image with the British people after her well-known affair 50 years ago with Harry’s father, Charles, which made his mother, Princess Diana, miserable in their marriage.
During his interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Prince Harry called Camilla dangerous due to her cooperation with the British media, and that both she and the press were willing to trade information harmful to himself and others.
The ITV and 60 Minutes on CBS interviews were shown on Sunday, January 8. Harry did another interview with Good Morning America on Monday, January 9. His book was released on Tuesday, January 10. It is said to be the quickest selling book in history in the UK.
Some of the bookshops in the UK opened at midnight, increasing their hours, as people lined up to buy the book which has been in the headlines since its announcement.
In the interviews last week, and in their Netflix documentary “Harry and Meghan,” which aired in December, Harry has been blaming the British media for incidents in the UK that caused Harry and Meghan to leave and move to California. He also said that the media contributed to the problems between him and his brother, Prince William, and his father, King Charles.
On Good Morning America, Harry said that the tabloids pitted him and his brother against each other and they did the same with their wives, causing rifts in the family.
Harry brought up his lawsuits against several tabloids but also held the royal family responsible for many of the controversies.
In the Oprah interview in 2021, the couple revealed that someone in the royal family had raised questions about how their infant, Andrew, would look when he was born, since the child is biracial. Although Harry said the royal family is not racist, he accused them of being “unconsciously biased.”
In “Spare,” Harry writes about his grief after his mother’s death and his resentment that he is called a “spare” heir (hence the name of the book). He also writes in detail about a physical fight with his brother William in London and talks about how he lost his virginity and used cocaine and marijuana.
Media has pointed out the multiple times Harry mentioned his private parts in his memoir.
Harry got into hot water because he wrote that he killed 25 Taliban fighters, during his time in the military in Afghanistan, a claim that earned him criticism from British military vets and the Taliban itself.
“Spare” discusses how Camilla was considered to be “the third person” in the marriage of Princess Diana and then Prince Charles. Everyone knew about the affair between Camilla and Charles, and how the prince married Diana and continued his relationship with Camilla. The situation caused significant stress for Diana. Harry said that before Camilla’s wedding to his father, he had complex feelings about the marriage and tried to talk his father out of it.