As I read more excerpts from Robert Jobson’s latest royal biography, Catherine, Princess of Wales, I’m really shocked that royalists keep trying to reclaim Prince Harry’s story via “palace sources” and “insiders.” Once I read Harry’s memoir, it struck me as so bold that Harry would produce his own historical document, a narrative in his own voice about his life. It took the wind out of a lot of royalists’ sails, because they are so used to using unnamed sources and random “insiders” to lie about the Sussexes. Well, Jobson’s book seems to be an attempt at widespread revisionist history about all things Sussex… which is weird, because the book is supposed to be about Kate, right? Jobson couldn’t even get dates right, and he used Spare as a reference, only to claim that Harry’s memoir is a “source,” all while Jobson blatantly spreads falsehoods about the Sussexes. It’s a mess. Some additional highlights from this fakakta book:
King Charles is allowing Andrew back in the fold to teach Prince William a lesson: ‘Perhaps the King is subliminally trying to show William that forgiving one’s brother and giving him a second chance is a strength, not a weakness,’ said the source. ‘Prince William disagrees – and as for his own brother, as far as he is concerned there is no way back.’
Jobson claims Harry & Meghan were invited to W&K’s apartment before the wedding: When they went to have drinks at William and Catherine’s palatial apartment, [Meghan] was apparently ‘taken aback’ at the disparity between the brothers. ‘I am not saying Meghan was jealous, but she was surprised how lavishly Harry’s brother was living compared to where they were living,’ said a close source. ‘It was perhaps the beginning of all the tensions between the couples.’ Meghan understood, of course, that William was in the direct line of succession, but she felt that Harry, as a royal prince, deserved more than he had.
The money issue: Harry, however, later claimed that his father told him there was ‘not enough money to go around’ for Meghan, because he was already having to pay for William and Catherine. Harry was furious – feeling that he and Meghan were entitled to lavish handouts from ‘Pa’ in return for agreeing to serve the crown. In fact, according to close sources, Charles ended up giving Harry a ‘substantial sum’ and did not cut him off financially.
William & Kate’s jealousy: At first, public reaction to Meghan was overwhelmingly positive, with ‘the new kids on the block’ hogging most of the headlines – to the point that William and Catherine may have unconsciously raised their game. There were whispers of pettiness, even jealousy. William, who expected to be treated with deference due to his place in the succession, was put out when Meghan and Harry slotted in a morning engagement in Cardiff in January 2018 that clashed with one of his. Competitive by nature, even when it comes to media coverage, he chose that same afternoon to debut a new and dramatic buzz-cut during a visit to a London hospital. Some members of Charles’s household were amused that William had felt so affronted. After all, the prince rarely showed much deference to his father.
Jobson insists that Meghan made Kate cry: Then it emerged that, four days before the wedding, Meghan had apparently made Catherine cry during a fitting for Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid’s dress. This version was later flatly contradicted by the new Duchess of Sussex, who claimed Catherine had made her cry – and that the confrontation ‘really hurt my feelings’ and had been a ‘turning point’ in their relationship. Cynics pointed out that turning on the tears was not difficult for Meghan. She’d once boasted about her ability to do so as an actress, saying: ‘Oh, I can do that so well.’
William didn’t want Meghan to wear Diana’s jewelry: I have been told that, still concerned about the match, he’d sought assurances from the Queen that Harry’s bride would not be wearing any of Princess Diana’s jewellery, even though his own wife was allowed to wear it.
Kate is still being blamed for “recollections may vary”: The original draft of the statement had been much milder, but both William and Catherine had been keen to toughen it up. It was the then Duchess of Cambridge herself who came up with the powerful phrase ‘recollections may vary’. Her husband also challenged the allegations, telling reporters: ‘We are very much not a racist family.’
QEII’s death: The Sussexes were again in the UK later in 2022, when Charles called his younger son from Balmoral to tell him the Queen was dying. Harry could easily have joined William, Andrew and the Wessexes on an RAF flight from Northolt but after Charles told him Meghan couldn’t accompany him he chose instead to take a private jet. As a future queen, Catherine might have expected to join her husband at Balmoral, but she elected to stay with their children. Her decision may have been influenced by Harry’s petulance.
One of the weirder lies is that William and Kate welcomed Harry and Meghan into their home before the wedding. Harry was pretty specific about that in Spare – Will and Kate came to dinner at Nottingham Cottage several times, but the first time Meghan was invited into the KP apartment was after the wedding. Jobson isn’t alone in his near constant emphasis that Meghan was a golddigger, or that she had her eyes on the jewels – I want people to understand that Spare was Harry documenting the myriad ways in which his family abused him, including financial abuse. Meghan was probably shocked by the fact that Harry didn’t even understand how badly he was being financially abused and that Harry has no concept of money. That’s a key point – Meghan wasn’t a golddigger, but she taught Harry about money and about what his family had been doing to him. That’s one of many reasons why the Windsors are still mad at her. Anyway, yeah… William and Kate f–king suck.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgird, Cover Images.