After the thunderous documentary “Harry & Meghan”, Prince Harry’s memoirs, entitled “The Substitute” again plunge the British monarchy into turmoil. The husband of Meghan Markle made some crisp revelations.
[Mis à jour le 5 janvier 2023 à 22h09] William, Charles, but also Camilla and Kate, in his memoirs entitled The Alternate, to be published on January 10, Prince Harry spares no one. One month after the broadcast on the Netflix video-on-demand platform of its documentary series Harry & Meghan, in which the deposed couple of the British monarchy settle accounts with the “system” and the tabloids, Prince Harry makes new damning revelations for the crown. From Brother William’s physical abuse to his father’s questionable joke at birth, to his fears over Camilla, here’s what Prince Harry blames the royals for.
Title The Alternatein reference to his delicate place as second (for a long time, the children of Kate and William having since passed him), behind his older brother William, to succeed Charles when the time comes, Prince Harry’s autobiography reveals the various points friction between Meghan Markle’s husband, her father Charles III and her brother Prince William.
Act one, Charles’ unwelcome joke on the day of his birth. “Magnificent! Now you have given me an heir and a substitute – mission accomplished”, would have dropped to Lady Diana the one who was then only Prince Charles at the birth of his second son, says Harry, as reported The Guardian. A simple joke for some, an unshakable pain for the king’s youngest son.
the Mail Online then reveals on his side that Harry and William would have implored their father, in 2005, not to remarry with Camilla. Harry says he was particularly worried about having to face … a “cruel” stepmother […] like all the wicked mothers-in-law in the stories”. “Despite pleas from Willy and I, Pa went ahead. We shook his hand and wished him good luck. No hard feelings,” recalls Harry, however.
Prince William also takes it for his rank, according to the first revelations on Harry’s autobiography. The youngest son of King Charles III returns to an episode in which we discover a completely different facet of Prince William. Harry explains that during a relatively recent argument, since this one would have taken place in 2019, William would have “grabbed him by the collar, tearing [s]one necklace, and [l’aurait] knocked it to the ground”. And Harry added: “I landed on the dog’s bowl, which broke under my back, the pieces cutting into me.” The subject of this dispute? Meghan Markle, relates Harry who specifies that after his violent gesture, William would have “apologized”.
In another excerpt from Substitute, Harry also claims that his choice for his now famous Nazi costume, which made tabloid headlines in 2005, creating scandal, and for which he finally had to apologize, would have been encouraged by Kate Middleton and William. As revealed Page Six, Harry writes that he hesitated between a pilot’s costume and a Nazi one. “I phoned Willy and Kate, I asked them what they thought of it,” says Harry, assuring that they would have answered: “The Nazi uniform.” Meghan Markle’s husband also explains that when he got home, he tried on the costume in front of them. “They both roared with laughter. It was worse than Willy’s leotard! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.”
More exchange between Prince Harry and King Charles III
Harry and his father, King Charles III, were seen together in September 2022 at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London. No gesture of affection had appeared during the ceremonies and according to the testimonies of certain members of the staff of the royal family, the exchanges were not more numerous behind the scenes. Before the death of the queen, the last interview between the father and his son dates back to 2020, before the exile of the prince and his wife in California. This departure had also signed the renunciation of the couple to their royal obligations. However, this withdrawal is also what prompted the monarch to refuse to invite his son during the last reception at Buckingham Palace – in the presence of many heads of state including Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden – according to the Telegram. A forced absence which did not seem to affect Prince Harry, unlike the absence of embroidery inscribing the initials of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the shoulder pads of his military uniform during the vigil around the coffin of the sovereign, according to the Times. Charles III had exceptionally authorized his youngest son, deprived of his titles, to wear the uniform without however granting him all the honors.
The conduct of King Charles III seems dictated more by royal protocol than by a feeling of animosity towards his son. According to the British tabloid The Mirror, the monarch is tired of disputes and family resentment although saddened by the accusations of his son and his daughter-in-law against the royal family. However, if new revelations painting a critical portrait of the Crown are broadcast in the documentary “Harry & Meghan”, the sovereign could not condone such actions, any more than Prince William who said he was ready to defy protocol to respond. to possible lying statements by his brother.
The death of Diana at the heart of the family estrangement?
Prince Harry has always been described as close to his mother, Lady Diana. And her death in 1997 under the Alma bridge in Paris remains a painful memory for the former Duke of Sussex. The disappearance of Lady Di had also complicated the relationship of the younger son with his father and it could be that recent mentions of his mother by Harry have added to the tensions already present within the royal family. An excerpt from the trailer for the documentary ‘Harry & Meghan’ shows Harry comparing ‘the pain and suffering of women who marry into this institution, this growing frenzy’ in reference to his mother’s fate and that of Meghan Markle within of the Firm.
A comparison that could prove unfortunate, the memory of Lady Diana being a most delicate subject for the Windsors and given the very conflicting relations of Meghan Markle with the Crown. In the eyes of the British people, the parallel between Lady Diana and Meghan Markle is also likely to be unwelcome. Because “there is a certain fatigue in public opinion vis-à-vis the Sussexes (…) Their popularity rating has fallen very low”, explains Marc Roche, specialist in British royalty and author of the book “The Borgias in Buckingham “, in the columns of the Parisian. And to add that Prince Harry “does not measure the disenchantment of the British”. However, Lady Diana is still an untouchable personality in England.