Prince Harry Says He and William Tried to Stop Charles From Marrying Camilla

Prince Harry spilled some major royal tea in his memoir, Spare. As Page Six noted, one of the allegations in the memoir is that he and his brother, Prince William, urged their father, King Charles III, not to marry Camilla. Even though they allegedly weren’t on board with the marriage, Charles wed Camilla in 2005.

In his autobiography, which came out in January, Harry describes how he and William are the product of the “three” in the marriage — Charles, Camilla, and Princess Diana. It’s a nod back to his mother’s 1995 quote during an interview with the BBC, in which she said, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Considering the history between the three, which involved Camilla and Charles allegedly engaging in an affair while he was married to Diana, Harry and William apparently weren’t fully on board with their father’s second marriage. 

“Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead. We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings,” Harry wrote, based on an excerpt seen by Page Six. “We recognized that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he’d always loved.” The Duke of Sussex continued, “Fate might’ve intended for him in the first place. Whatever bitterness or sorrow we felt over the closing of another loop in Mummy’s story, we understood that it was besides the point.” That wasn’t all that Harry had to say about his stepmother, who is now the Queen Consort upon her husband’s ascension to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He continued to reflect on how he wondered whether Camilla would be an “evil stepmother” after marrying Charles. 

“I remember wondering … if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the evil stepmothers in the stories,” he wrote. “Willy had been suspicious of the Other Woman for a long time, which confused and tormented him. When those suspicions were confirmed, he felt agonizing remorse for not having done or said anything before.” While this is certainly a dramatic allegation, it’s not the most serious anecdote that Harry shared in Spare. 

Elsewhere in his memoir, Harry alleged that William became physically violent with him at one point. The altercation came after William allegedly referred to Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, as “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive,” which the Duke of Sussex said was a parroting of the “press narrative” about Meghan. Fans will be able to read this full narrative, and find out what else Harry has to say about the royal family, when his autobiography is released on Tuesday, Jan. 10.