One of the most curious things about the past few months is how little King Charles has done or said, publicly or privately, about the Sussex family’s UK return. The palace’s big move was the Lord Chamberlain’s clarification letter, which was reportedly released at the behest of Prince William, but Charles clearly signed off on it. That was the palace trying to put Prince Harry and Meghan in a box: they’re not public figures, they’re not working royals, treat them like private citizens. It obviously didn’t work. So what’s next? What new thing will Prince William demand from his father? Some kind of public loyalty pledge to the heir? Well, the Mail’s Richard Eden is certainly edging up to that.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip could never understand their son Prince Charles’s adulterous relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Writing to Princess Diana in 1992, as her marriage to Charles collapsed, Philip told his daughter-in-law: ‘We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her. I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla. Such a prospect never even entered our heads.’

Eventually, however, the Queen and her husband reluctantly accepted Charles’s devotion to the divorcee. Although they were conspicuous by their absence from the register office at Windsor when the couple exchanged vows in 2005, they did attend the service of prayer and dedication at St George’s Chapel later the same day. As a reflection of the expected public reaction to the marriage, Charles’s office at Clarence House issued a statement which said: ‘It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title the princess consort when the prince accedes to the throne.’

From then onwards, though, Charles campaigned behind the scenes for Camilla not to be Princess Consort when he ascended the throne but to be Queen Camilla, just as his beloved grandmother had been Queen Elizabeth when her husband, George VI, was King. In February 2022, the Queen, in increasingly poor health, used her Platinum Jubilee message to the nation for an unexpected purpose. She wrote of her ‘sincere wish’ that Camilla would be known as Queen Consort when her elder son ascended the throne.

Whatever her private feelings might have been, the Queen did this because she wanted to help sway public opinion in favour of the move, which meant so much to Charles. It would, she believed, be in the long-term interests of the monarchy. It was her final gift to her son before she died seven months later.

Now it’s time for King Charles, who turns 78 next month and is still being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, to help his own son and heir, the Prince of Wales. William’s problem is not public acceptance of his wife, Catherine, who is as popular as he is, if not more so. William’s problem is his brother and sister-in-law.

Since returning from California to live in Britain, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have embarked on a brazen attempt to undermine the Royal Family by establishing their own ‘court’ here. Last week, we were treated to the spectacle of the couple carrying out what they described as ‘public engagements’ in Nottingham, complete with dozens of royal reporters from around the world and even a ‘royal walkabout’. It was arranged for a day when the King and Queen were undertaking an important duty, opening the Welsh parliament for the first time since the former Prince of Wales ascended the throne.

Dutiful as ever, William and Catherine avoided publicising their own engagement that day. They visited picturesque Cornwall but chose not to release a video of the princess talking about the trip and the importance of children experiencing nature until the following day. They did not want to do anything to undermine the King and Queen. But, in the event, it made no difference, as the monarch’s engagement was completely overshadowed by extensive coverage of the Sussexes’ trip to Nottingham, which was Meghan’s first formal outing since she returned to this country.

If the King really wants to help William prepare for his future reign and safeguard the future of the monarchy, just as his mother did for him, he needs to take action now against Harry and Meghan. The King must strip the couple of their titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as those of prince and princess. He did this to his brother Andrew when he saw that he was a threat to the popularity of the monarchy, although for different reasons.

He must also remove Harry’s role as Counsellor of State. It’s unbelievable that Harry would still be legally entitled to stand in for the monarch if the King was unwell or abroad. He must also remove Harry and his two children from the line of succession.

The King has been quick to act when he feels personally aggrieved, not only against Andrew but also Earl Spencer…Now, the King needs to take action against his younger son, for the sake of the future of the monarchy.

[From The Daily Mail]

I left Eden’s history lesson about how Charles campaigned for Camilla to be called “queen,” which is something Charles desperately wanted and what Camilla wanted too. Ol’ Side-Chick did not blow up the monarchy just to be called Princess Consort. QEII only “changed her mind” on that in 2022, when Prince Andrew needed to settle out of court with Virginia Giuffre. It was a handy quid pro quo – Charles used that moment to get his dying mother’s “blessing” on “Queen Camilla.” But I digress. Eden is using that clear manipulation of QEII as some kind of example of what William wants from Charles. Which begs the question: if Charles makes some kind of move against the Sussexes, will that mean that William has basically blackmailed his dying father? It has to be said, yet again, that Charles absolutely got the heir he deserves. All of Charles’ machinations with Camilla, and now William’s mouthpiece is clearly saying: this is what you need to placate your heir, you must take away the titles!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.