Prince Harry’s relationship with the royal family has been strained for years and tensions increased with the publication of his memoirs. Replacement, in January of last year. One of the main revelations of his book is his sincere feelings towards his stepmother, Queen Camilla. Harry expressed that he and his brother, Prince William, were unhappy when his father, King Charles, chose Camilla over her mother, Princess Diana.
According to the Mirror, Harry didn’t mince his words and referred to Camilla as the “other woman.” In his memoirs, Harry revealed that both he and William had asked his father not to marry Camilla. “We didn’t understand what was happening between her and Dad, certainly, but we sensed enough, we felt the presence of the Other Woman because we suffered the after effects,” he wrote.
Despite her protests, King Charles went ahead with the marriage. As reported by TIME, Harry mused, “Even though Willy and I urged him not to do it, Dad went ahead. We shake his hand and wish him the best. No hard feelings. We recognized that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he had always loved.”
Harry also shared that William experienced significant guilt once Charles and Camilla’s relationship became official. “Willy harbored suspicions about the Other Woman for a long time, which confused him, tormented him, and when those suspicions were confirmed, he felt tremendous guilt for not having done anything, not having said anything sooner.”
Harry also reflected on his mother’s infamous story. BBC Panoramic Interview where he said, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a little crowded.” Harry explained how this revelation affected him and William, stating, “She left Willy and I out of the equation,” leaving them to navigate their parents’ complex relationship alone. Seeing Camilla as a potential threat, he wrote: “I had complex feelings about having a stepfather who, he believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.
Funnily enough, he even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she would be less dangerous if she were happy? She further explained Camilla’s role in the family, writing: “She was the third person in the marriage and she needed to rehabilitate her image. That made her dangerous because of the connections she was forging within the British press. And there was an open willingness on both sides to exchange information.
And with a family based on hierarchy, and with her on her way to being Queen Consort, there would be people or bodies abandoned in the street because of that.” In an interview with Good morning america, Harry hinted at Camilla’s selfish nature. “She is my stepmother. I don’t see her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything possible to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake.” Harry’s revelations offer a raw look at royal family dynamics and the personal struggles he and William faced with his father’s marriage to Camilla.
