Prince Harry and Prince William Said They Begged King Charles III Not to Marry Queen Consort Camilla
Prince Harry and Prince William may not agree on everything right now, but they were once on the same page when it came to their father, King Charles III’s, remarriage.
The Duke of Sussex revealed in his upcoming memoir Spare that Charles was adamant on marrying Queen Consort Camilla years after Princess Diana’s death—and had even asked Queen Elizabeth II for permission, which the Archewell co-founder said was “grudgingly granted.”
“Despite Willy and I pleading with him not to, my father went ahead with his plan,” Harry wrote in the Spanish language version of his book obtained by NBC News.
“We shook his hand and wished him the best without any ill will. We knew he was going to be with the woman he had always loved, the woman fate had planned for him from the start.”
The couple eventually married in 2005, in a town hall ceremony in Windsor. NBC News has reached out to Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, and Prince Harry’s representative. They have all declined to comment.
Charles and Camilla remained close throughout the decades, even when he was married to Harry and William’s mother, Princess Diana, whom he divorced in 1996 after 15 years of marriage.
Charles stated in a 1994 interview with British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby that he remained faithful to Diana “until it became clear that the marriage had irreparably broken down.”
In Spare, Harry recalled the aftermath of his mother’s death and how Charles “did not hug” him when he learned the tragic news. (Diana tragically died in 1997 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in Paris. At the time, Harry was only 12 years old.)
“What I do remember with stunning clarity is that I did not cry,” Harry wrote, according to an NBC News copy of the book. “Not a single tear.”
In his memoir, which will be released on January 10, Harry also made several shocking claims about the royal family, including an alleged physical fight between him and William over Meghan Markle.
“He grabbed me by the collar, ripped my necklace, and knocked me to the floor,” Harry wrote, according to a Guardian excerpt. “I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back and cut into me. I lay there dazed for a moment before getting to my feet and telling him to get out.”
When asked recently about his strained relationship with William, Harry told Good Morning America that Diana “would be sad” to see their bond frayed: “I think she’d be looking at it long term to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship.”
More to Read: