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Charles wanted Meghan to make her dad “stop”
Prince Charles became so irritated by Thomas Markle’s TV appearances—especially his criticism of the royal family—that he “berated” son Prince Harry of wife Meghan Markle, “Can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?”
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In his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors, Tom Bower also writes that shortly after Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding, Charles and Queen Elizabeth “urged” Meghan to fly to America for a reconciliation. This request was rejected by Meghan, fearing “a frenzy of media attention and intrusion that could bring more embarrassment to the royal family.”
Bower writes: “Harry did not tell his father about Thomas’s fury at being ignored by his daughter. Harry explained that Meghan refused to telephone Thomas Markle because she suspected that ‘his phone was not in his possession’ and ‘his email account was compromised.’ The inconsistencies of Meghan’s excuses not only irritated Charles but perhaps also the queen.” (Which seems strange, given some of those “excuses” were about protecting the royals themselves.)
In the latest extracts from the book in the Sunday Times, Bower also reports that Camilla “found it hard to believe that Meghan would sacrifice her independence to serve silently as a team player” within the royal family, and reports in granular detail the fury the Sussexes felt towards the media if they didn’t feel they were being sufficiently lionized. Meghan was also said to be upset at being criticized so much when Kate Middleton seemed to orbit above any media negativity.
Bower writes: “Meghan was angry that Palace officials refused to protect her image. She refused to accept that staff were not employed to promote her as an individual, but instead placed her within the grid of the entire Royal Family. In particular, Meghan fumed about the refusal officially to criticize Thomas Markle. From her perspective, Meghan was isolated, vulnerable and stifled by conventions.”
On a tour of Australia, Bower writes, “Every night, Harry trawled social media, searching for snide comments on the internet. Every morning he and Meghan turned on their phones to surf the internet. Thin-skinned, they were inflamed by the slightest criticism. Both bombarded their staff with demands for removal of the criticism.”
Astute followers of the royal saga will recall that during her privacy and copyright trial with the Daily Mail, Meghan’s text messages to her former communications boss revealed she wrote a letter to her father only to “protect my husband from this constant berating” and said the royals “fundamentally [didn’t] understand” her reasons for her estrangement from her father.
Bower’s claim that Meghan was ordered to go to her father’s home in Mexico also appears to be rely at least in part on one of her witness statements in that trial.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia.
Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImageDevil, Prada, cont…
Bower also writes the staff at Vogue UK were “exasperated” by Meghan’s demands when she guest-edited an issue in September 2019. The theme of the issue was Game Changers who “reshape society in radical and positive ways.”
“I want to break the internet,” Meghan exclaimed to the editorial staff, Bower says. “Listening to the duchess, the editorial team’s expressions showed silent exasperation. They believed most of her contributions were superficial, lacking rhyme or reason.”
Meghan wanted to appear on the cover, just as Kate Middleton had done three years previously to mark Vogue’s centenary. The editorial team allegedly convinced Meghan not to, as it would be “boastful.” Then followed demands from Meghan to promote the magazine, and demands from Buckingham Palace to cease promoting it, Bower says—phone calls that left Sara Latham, head of communications for Meghan and Prince Harry, in tears, Bower says.
In any case, as Alaina Demopoulos wrote in the Daily Beast, the resulting issue, while featuring many worthy inspiring female subjects, may have benefited from a bit more levity.
“In public, Enninful would say that it was Meghan’s decision not to appear on the cover because she wished to remain ‘humble,’” Bower writes. “The cover was given to, among others, Salma Hayek, a Hollywood star married to François-Henri Pinault—a French billionaire who happened to be one of Vogue’s leading advertisers.”
Royal vacay
Kate Middleton, Prince William, and their three children were spotted hopping into a helicopter carrying what looked like holiday bags earlier this week. Given that they were also accompanied by their dog, The Royalist suspects that they were heading off to the flower-filled island of Tresco, on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall, where they often spend holidays and which, conveniently, is owned in its entirety by William’s dad.
Subscribe here to get all the latest royal news and gossip with Tom Sykes and Tim Teeman.
Andrew allegedly fought to keep a mysterious photo secret
As royal mysteries go, this is one of the most bamboozling. A photographer claims to have taken a shocking photograph of Prince Andrew while the Newsnight team were working on the famous Prince Andrew interview.
Mark Harrison, a freelance photographer who has worked for the BBC for years, often producing still imagery to support, promote, and accompany shows, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, enigmatically, that he had snapped an image that would “embarrass Prince Andrew and the Royal Family” if it were released.
He did not respond to messages from The Daily Beast Sunday.
The Mail reports that Andrew “insisted the picture never become public” but Harrison appeared to hint it could be recreated in a forthcoming film about the interview, Scoop, scheduled to go into production later this year.
A clue as to where this story is heading is provided by the comment by an anonymous source who told the Mail: “There is, of course, a chance that it will at some point come out for all to see, perhaps if the price is right. Of course, the movie about the interview is happening, so that is a possibility.”
Andrew’s interview with Emily Maitlis, in which he showed no sympathy for the victims of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and said he didn’t regret his friendship with him, effectively ended Andrew’s royal career, forcing him to step back from public life.
According to the Daily Mail, Harrison, an award-winning portrait photographer, said of his shot: “It has been seen by only a few people, but it would be a big deal for the Royal Family. There is a lot more from that day that is not yet in the public domain.”
This week in royal history
Today, Sunday, Camilla turns 75, on the road to becoming queen (consort, whatevs). She is the recipient of so many puff pieces of journalism—the homepage headline on this one today in the Telegraph is a classic of the genre: “How Charming Camilla Won Us All Over”—it’s clear the media want to be on her right side, even if polls show the public actually still have to be convinced.
As per royal tradition, Camilla has released a new portrait to mark her birthday. She is pictured sitting in her garden, Raymill, in Wiltshire, wearing a flowery blue dress. Strategically positioned in front of her is a bowl of peaches that, the palace said, she grew in her garden. Won’t her husband be proud!
Today is also the third wedding anniversary of Princess Beatrice and Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi. (Tom Bower reminds us that there was irritation that Meghan allegedly “told everyone she was pregnant” on the day of her sister Princess Eugenie’s ceremony in 2018.)
Unanswered questions
Tom Bower’s book on Meghan and Harry is soaking up all the headlines this weekend, and the extracts in The Sunday Times (quoted above) and the Sun (including the tale of her friendship with golfer Rory McIlroy) are this week’s homework. There is also a fascinating account of Meghan establishing her network of business interests, including the registration, in Delaware, of a corporation called Loving Kindness Senior Care Management Inc, run by Doria Ragland, Meghan’s mother.
With the book itself due to be published next week, the unanswered question must be: what else has Bower got up his sleeve?
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