It is no secret that Queen Camilla and Prince Harry are not on good terms. However, during his recent visit to the UK to see his ailing father and British Monarch, King Charles , sources revealed the Duke didn’t want his stepmother to be near him. In his tell-all memoir Spare , Harry wrote he asked his father not to marry her when the royal brothers were young.
According to the insiders, Harry wants to reconcile with his father and brother amid Charles’ ongoing health battle with cancer. Although nothing has been heard from Prince William’s side, it is reported Your Highness is also “desperate” to bury the hatchet with his estranged son, according to the royal expert Katie Nicholl, per Entertainment Tonight.
Nicholl said, “[Charles] desperately wants to reconcile with Harry. His father personally telephoned him to inform him of his cancer diagnosis, [and] Harry jumped on the overnight flight from Los Angeles.” The journalist added that despite staying back for barely an hour with Charles, the moment the father and son were together was “emotional” but “difficult.”
Yes, Harry wants to mend the broken ties with his father and probably his brother, but Camilla comes nowhere near. The Queen Consort’s friend and journalist Petronella Wyatt wrote in the Telegraph, “Harry, I hear, preferred not to be in the same room with his stepmother when he spoke to the King about his cancer diagnosis,” per The Mirror.
The Duke’s true feelings are reflected in his book Spare, where he calls Camilla “dangerous” and a “villain.” In one excerpt, he also wrote, “I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.” The memoir also revealed he nicknamed her “wicked stepmother.”
Although Harry’s visit didn’t last much, it profoundly impacted the father-son relationship. The journalist added, “The king would have been hugely relieved and comforted by the fact that Harry flew over. I think it’s absolutely fundamental and important and healing the rift.”
Nicholl also noted Harry’s reunion with the Monarch is “a real thawing in the relations between Charles and his son. I know, for Charles, the door has always been left open regardless of some of the things Harry has written,” referring to the Duke’s many revelations and accusations in his book.
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The expert also revealed that despite Harry’s leaking sensitive family details to the public, Charles still loves him. “I was told by a source very close to the king that whatever Harry has said or done, he loves his son. I think when someone has a serious health scare like this, it does make you reassess things, and I think that’s why Harry got on the first flight he could.”
However, in a previous interview with Good Morning America’s host, Michael Strahan, Harry clarified how his perspective towards Camilla became better, if not changed. He insisted, “When I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other. I love every member of my family, despite the differences or the difficulties.”
“I see someone who married into this institution or got involved with this institution and has done everything that she can to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake, and I can understand why,” he reiterated.