Prince Harry Once Revealed Why King Charles Wanted William and Kate Out of the Spotlight
Prince Harry's Spare revealed claims that King Charles was once uneasy about Prince William and Princess Kate's growing popularity.
King Charles's bonding with Prince William allegedly remains challenging amid Prince Harry's royal drama; however, the monarch's relationship with Kate Middleton has undergone significant change throughout the years. Meanwhile, this was not the case long ago; the monarch previously had issues with the Prince and Princess of Wales conducting themselves in public. This was revealed in Prince Harry's bombshell memoir Spare, where the Duke shed light on the dynamics his father displayed while dealing with the future king and queen.
Harry alleged in his book that back in 2015, the then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were apparently jealous of the public admiration received by William and Kate. "Willy did everything he (Charles) wanted, and sometimes he didn't want him to do much, because my dad and Camilla didn't like Willy and Kate getting too much publicity," the Duke wrote. The Duke went on to claim that his father's staff members were instructed to keep the then Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, from being photographed holding a tennis racket during royal events. "That kind of photo would have pushed Dad and Camilla off every front page," Harry highlighted. The Duke further explained that his father was constantly paranoid about losing the spotlight. When Harry introduced Meghan Markle into the royal fold in 2017, he revealed that his father feared she could "dominate the monarchy."
Charles had allegedly harbored the fear ever since he married Princess Diana, as the 'People's Princess' tag was too overbearing for the future monarch then. Harry highlighted this in his memoir, saying Charles had "experienced that before and he had no interest in letting it happen to him again". He added: "What he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him." Diana had asserted that Charles was wary of her success while they toured in public. During her explosive 1995 BBC Panorama interview, she had disclosed, "The pressure on us both as a couple with the media was phenomenal, and misunderstood by a great many people," she said. During a tour around Australia, Diana noted that crowds expressed disappointment over Prince Charles being nearer to them instead of her, stating, "They weren't on the right side to wave at me or to touch me," Marie Claire reported.
Diana noted that Charles gradually grew jealous when Bashir inquired if she was "flattered" by the positive media reception. "No, not particularly," Diana replied, "because with the media attention came a lot of jealousy; a great deal of complicated situations arose because of that." Meanwhile, things seemed to have thawed between King Charles and Kate in particular; the Princess of Wales's recent successful Italy tour suggests that the monarch has no qualms in letting the future queen take center stage. It has been increasingly observed that William and Kate have been undertaking more royal engagements as the monarchy has shifted to a 'slimmed down' mode. With many of the senior royals mainly on the verge of retirement, it is obvious that Charles will be depending more on the Waleses.
