Again, much of Russell Myers’ supposed biography of the Prince and Princess of Wales is actually about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Seemingly every story is about Prince Harry or Meghan doing or saying something, which led to rage, lies and tears from Prince William and Kate. It’s crazy that even in the most generous, keen-intensive narratives, William still comes across as completely unhinged as well, but that seems to be a conversation a lot of royalists are unwilling to have. In a new excerpt from Myers’ William & Catherine, apparently William and then-Prince Charles were absolutely furious that Prince Harry wanted to publicly protect and shield then-Meghan Markle from the racist British press in 2016. Charles and William really said “being terrible partners to our girlfriends is the Windsor Brand, how dare you, Harry!!”
Prince Harry’s reaction against “utterly disgusting” media treatment of Meghan Markle had swerved the established royal “process of doing things” and made King Charles and Prince William “look bad,” a new royal book says. Meghan was subject to a wave of inflammatory stories when her relationship with Harry was first revealed at the end of October 2016, including an infamous story stating she was “(almost) straight outta Compton,” when in fact she was from another part of Los Angeles.
Harry fired back at the media in a statement from his spokesman, Jason Knauf, just more than a week after the news broke—but the prince argued in his own book how it made Prince William and King Charles look bad “because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed.”
“Harry had taken a stand, but he had left his father and brother utterly furious. A royal source said, ‘The feeling was that Harry had made them both look bad. Granted, he was rightly outraged about the treatment his girlfriend was receiving, some of the coverage was utterly disgusting, but the royal family have a specific way or process of doing things. This wasn’t it.’”
“Harry was infuriated that his father and brother admonished him for his rash actions, and the tense conversations left Harry astounded that his own kin were refusing to offer their support, even after their spouses had endured years of being hounded by the media,” Myers wrote. “William was angered that their shared communications team had not thought to consult him before issuing such a formal rebuke. He also, as Harry related in his memoir, questioned the seriousness of Harry’s relationship to his face. Harry also says that William openly mocked him for suggesting that their late mother sent Meghan to him in some form of spiritual guidance, ‘Well now, Harold … I’m not sure about that. I wouldn’t say THAT!’”
“Harry did not like having his feelings challenged, nor did he appreciate being told what to do. It is not hard to sympathise with Harry here. Why should his older brother have any say over who he should date or how he should feel?”
In fact, the book argues this incident, at the very start of Meghan’s relationship with the British public, may have been the first concrete sign of the disintegration in royal relations that would ultimately end with Harry and Meghan quitting the palace for a new life in America in 2020, some four years later.
“A palace source close to the brothers told how this period did indeed mark an outward shift in their relations,” he wrote. “Suddenly it was harder to get them in the same room, each giving various excuses as to why they could not—or perhaps would not—be available to engage with meetings together. Was William simply looking out for his brother, or did he have an eye on the impact on the monarchy if Harry were to marry a woman who, at the time, he barely knew? While that may have been his obvious concern, the way he asked the question, and his audacity to ask it at all, would drive a wedge between the brothers that could possibly be seen as the precursor to the eventual demise of their bond.”
“The relationship between them [William and Harry] was already tense and this didn’t help,” a former aide quoted in the book said.
“Harry was intent on the palace doing more,” Myers wrote. “He felt as though William wasn’t backing him up and had already told him to slow down with the relationship and the criticism of the media, which only served to anger Harry even more. Was William looking out for his brother or himself? Only he would know that, but it was clear even back then that things were heading in the wrong direction.”
“The feeling was that Harry had made them both look bad.” Imagine a prince trying to protect the woman he loved and that prince’s brother and father immediately throw pissy tantrums about how that protection makes them look bad? The problem was always that Charles and William treated their girlfriends, mistresses and wives like sh-t and Harry’s actions only emphasized the two heirs’ lack of chivalry and lack of respect for women. With William, it was more than just William’s sh-tty treatment of all women – William was absolutely f–king furious that Harry had fallen in love with someone beautiful and cool. It made William’s choices look stark and sad and instead of reflecting on that, William just raged out. He’s still raging out. He’ll be raging out for years over the fact that his brother fell in love and prioritized being a husband and father above being William’s doormat and scapegoat.
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