The Windsors: Harry is ‘on a path of self-destruction, there is so much vengeance’

Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair finally got an exclusive! Which means that the palaces’ communications offices were doing exactly what Prince Harry said they would: briefing multiple royal reporters from multiple outlets about the “royal reaction” to Harry’s interviews on ITV, GMA and 60 Minutes. Instead of dealing with Harry directly – by calling him – or issuing a statement on the record, Charles, Camilla, William and Kate insist on playing these games. As you can imagine, “royal sources” are absolutely furious with Harry.

A royal irking: Harry’s approach in promoting the blockbuster book has, unsurprisingly, irked the royals and those close to them, sources say. As one tells Vanity Fair, Harry “totally fails to see the irony and hypocrisy in what he says. When there have been private family conversations, it has been Harry who has leaked them to the press.”

Self-destructive prince: Sources close to the royal family expressed their shock at Harry’s book and interview saying, “He is on a path of self-destruction. There is so much vengeance. The late Queen would have been absolutely devastated.” They added that any reconciliation appears unlikely in the short term.

Dickie Arbiter speaks: Before the interview aired, former Buckingham Palace communications advisor Dickie Arbiter told Vanity Fair he thought Harry would ultimately regret speaking out and that the Palace was unlikely to comment as the saga continues to escalate. “If Harry wants to engage he has to eat humble pie and he doesn’t show any signs of doing that. From my perspective, the institution did a lot to help Harry but he got to a point where he stopped taking the advice. Harry’s always been stubborn. He was always going to go his own way and do his own thing. As for his book, I think he’ll regret not having pulled it. It’s done now. He can’t undo this.”

Harry’s comments on Camilla in particular: According to a close friend of Queen Consort Camilla, she has been left “just astounded by the whole thing.”

How King Charles feels: As Vanity Fair has previously reported, the King is keen to reconcile with his youngest son and is understood to want to extend an invitation to the Sussexes to the Coronation, which will take place in May. Charles wants to project an image of unity for the royal family and would like a genuine rapprochement with his youngest son. However, sources close to the King have also said that Charles will not tolerate Harry attacking his wife and that Harry may have crossed a line by speaking about Camilla, of whom he said, “hurtful things have happened. Some in the past, some in the present.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Harry “totally fails to see the irony and hypocrisy in what he says. When there have been private family conversations, it has been Harry who has leaked them to the press.” We can keep going round in circles here. Harry hasn’t been “leaking” – he’s written a memoir and he’s given on-camera interviews where he corrects the record about what’s really been happening for years. The record would not need correcting if William, Camilla, Kate and Charles hadn’t been briefing the media against the Sussexes all of those years.

Who can really look at Harry right now and not see a man who is inspired and happy? Like, he’s practically glowing. A weight has been lifted off of his shoulders. This is not a man spiraling down a deep hole of self-destruction. As for Camilla’s shock… I bet she neighed in surprise. Anyway, I will admit to being curious to see how Charles plays this from here. Charles actually does want Harry at the coronation. I’m not sure if Harry actually cares though.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red, Buckingham Palace.

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74 Responses to “The Windsors: Harry is ‘on a path of self-destruction, there is so much vengeance’”

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  1. Eurydice says:

    Yeah, no. Harry doesn’t regret it. And all that’s left for the RF is impotent sputtering.

    • Moxylady says:

      So. Harry “attacked” Charles wife hy speaking the truth and that’s very likely the deal breaker.
      But when they do attack meghan that’s supposed to be fine.
      Very much abuser logic. Got it.

      • Eurydice says:

        Sure, they can keep trying to use that logic, but there’s no power behind it anymore. Harry doesn’t need them and he doesn’t need the British media, either.

      • Tessa says:

        The media gives Camilla free passes for not complaining about Clarkson and his bike comment.

      • Tessa says:

        Spell check bad. I had typed vile

      • Kate says:

        I don’t see what your problem is with my wife repeatedly denigrating your wife to the press, you need to turn the other cheek, wait HOW DARE YOU publicly acknowledge that she did that? You’ve gone too far!

    • sunny says:

      That man is radiating peace, looks healthy, vibrant and happy. From his interviews(haven’t dug into spare yet), I’ll bite that he would like better relations with his family but how can anybody believe he regrets protecting his wife and kids and leaving that big old mess with the way he is radiating contentment.

      The royal family’s reaction is giving desperation.

  2. Emily_C says:

    El. Oh. El. All of their responses are cracking me up. They have no idea what to do about Harry.

  3. MaryContrary says:

    He’s not going to the Coronation. That ship sailed after the BRF was horrible to him during the Jubilee and the Queen’s funeral. He owes them nothing.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      I’m not so sure about that. He extends grace to his father and brother that he doesn’t to others.

    • Polo says:

      Nah I think he might go if a conversation with his dad is productive. He’s kinda insinuated that.
      I hope they don’t! I hope the RF and BM keep showing their asses and Harry fully realizes just how awful these people are. He gave them an out and they refuse to take it.

      • Robert Phillips says:

        Harry put the book out now on purpose. He and Meaghan will back away from the public for a little while. To see what the Royal Family will do. If the leaks and smears stop then they might be able to talk. If the smears keep coming then no. Plus I am sure everything said in Spare can be backed up with proof. Which I bet Random House has copies of. So if people keep saying they are lies there might be lawsuits. But it will be Random House and not Harry.

    • Eurydice says:

      It’s not about owing anything. He’s a free person. If it suits him to go, he will.

    • Jaded says:

      He’ll go only if Charles has a word with William to stop physically attacking him and screaming “I love you Harold!”

  4. Brassy Rebel says:

    Remember all the leaks about Charles being very worried about how Harry would write about Camilla in his book? Now we know why. Charles was right to worry, and it’s telling that he understood the danger there despite the insistence that none of the royals knows what Harry is so mad about. They know exactly what his grievances are.

    • Lucy says:

      Yes! I remember it seemed out of left field initially, we’d forgotten how close Camilla was with the editors. And since her position was assured, it didn’t make sense that she’d be still playing the game, I thought.

      And you’re on the nose, they did know what Harry was mad about , because they told on themselves ahead of time, when they had no idea what was in the book. I did enjoy that Harry basically said, bless her heart in the interview.

      • Becks1 says:

        I remember that, and I remember saying that I thought it was to deflect from Charles, bc why would Camilla really bother herself with her husband’s grown children?

        But Camilla being the one to aggressively leak stories to the press is the information they were worried about.

        I’m only about 100 pages in and I’m not going to lie, I find the book hard to read. Well written, but just very emotional. Like its hard to realize that as cold as things looked for Harry as he grew up on the outside, they were so much worse on the inside. I cried about 4 times in the first 30 pages.

        I also think its clear that Harry loves his father and is trying very hard to understand him.

  5. Snuffles says:

    Why am I picturing that scene from Mean Girls when Regina George copied the pages from the burn book and spread it all over the school resulting in “full tilt jungle madness”?

    https://media.tenor.com/hUaSEQafTy8AAAAM/regina-george-mean-girls.gif

    Sure, it was absolute chaos at first but when the more reasonable adults got the girls together, they were able to work through a lot of issues. In the end there was a truce and respect, even though most went their separate ways. I can see Harry hoping for that.

  6. Rapunzel says:

    “‘If Harry wants to engage he has to eat humble pie and he doesn’t show any signs of doing that.'”

    In other words, Harry would have to agree to bend to Willy and his Pop.

    “‘ From my perspective, the institution did a lot to help Harry but he got to a point where he stopped taking the advice.'”

    Translation: we ordered him around and he got tired of it.

  7. Kaye says:

    “Sources close to the family…..” ” A close friend of Camilla. . “. I’m reading these responses to Spare & Harry’s interviews and they are hilarious! All the “sources” proving exactly what Harry has accused RF of! They are pathetic and sad.

    • Kel says:

      It’s actually funny now especially after he’s exposed them for how they operate. They will truly never change and I love that for them.

      • Jennifer says:

        They are perpetually amateurs at this shit, somehow. You’d think they’d learn, but nooooooooo.

  8. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    “Camilla neighed in surprise”!!!! I’m literally dying of laughter!!!! You are so witty Kaiser!!!

  9. Otterton says:

    How is there no one in that family that sees that they’re doing exactly what he said they do, with the leaking and the super secret briefing? I mean, I get it, they know and they don’t give a shit, but come on! Everyone knows the game, you’re not fooling anyone. Your whole “never complain, never explain” has been bullshit from the start and has been chucked aside any time you need to protect William or Charles.

    Anyways. I still can’t get over the fact that they took a frigging portrait of the four of them at their head of the family’s wake and released it as a “look at us, the king and heir, aren’t we great?!” shot. Yeah not everyone is sad all the time around a death, but it is so goddamn tacky.

    • Yup, Me says:

      I think it emphasizes (as so many of their actions do) that they are so messed up and toxic that they have ZERO idea how to comport themselves as a family (or as people). Everything they do is looking at themselves through the lens of what they think is the public’s gaze, but they’re so emotionally stunted and bizarre that they haven’t a clue what the public thinks or feels.

      • Christine says:

        “the institution did a lot to help Harry”

        Word. They are still shrieking that they helped Harry. Meanwhile, they did absolutely nothing to support Meghan, other than throw her under every bus.

  10. HeatherC says:

    So sources close to the family say the family feels/says/fears etc. Palace sources, friend of the royal, royal sources, people close to royal X…..

    Yet Harry is leaking private conversations?

    Miss me with that mess.

  11. equality says:

    There can only be a need for vengeance where there is something to avenge.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Exactly right. It’s a tacit admission of abuse.

      Experienced the same dynamic with my own abusive family of origin. Was first said to be “seeking revenge” after I told the truth. But then, since the desire for vengeance could only arise from mistreatment, they then had to deny the mistreatment by calling me crazy.

      Gets complicated, but the basic method to deny, attack, reverse victim and offender (DARVO) is so obvious with these British royals.

  12. Angelica Schuyler says:

    It’s hilarious to see how the RR and the BRF just can’t stand to see Harry stand up for himself and his wife and his kids. They really still believe that they are offering him something worth abandoning his joy and happiness. They really believe that he would give up a life of independence and happiness and joy to come back and be their lackey, and be abused and undervalued…..Ha! Nope. Not gonna happen….Nice try.

    Just reverse everything they say if you want it to make any sense.

    They are so delusional (and evil).

  13. Lucy says:

    Over the weekend I saw a clip of Peter Hunt on twitter (I think it was his twitter acct, a clip of him on a show, live reporting outside buckingham palace, lol), and he told the host what to look for from the palace. That if there were long articles with extensive quotes from sources and palace insiders, and then at the bottom something about how BP or KP had no comment, then they just proved Harry’s whole premise. I thought it was an excellent, explicit calling out of the way the system works.

  14. Tessa says:

    Harry is being gaslit especially in the dm. Where is the talk of incandescent bill being out of control.

  15. Chelsea says:

    I’m only a few chapters into Spare, which is fantastic especially with Harry narrating, but most of the private convos mentioned such as his walk with Charles and William after Phillip’s funeral and Charles’ alleged quote about doing his job by making an heir and a spare were all leaked previously in the British press. The same goes for the things he mentioned in interviews this week like the fact that all the family in windsor got on a plane to windsor to see the Queen without him and that she was dead before he arrived.

    When these stories are already a matter of public record and speculation it’s rich to call him a hypocrite for simply giving his side of those stories. These people are so entitled that they really believe they can leak and write all these stories about him and he’s never allowed to respond. It’s nuts. He’s made it clear on this press tour that he understands this book will be historical record as will all the books of lies written about his family so he’s using the opportunity to set things straight and it’s very smart of him.

    • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

      You’re doing the audible? I can’t decide.

      • Becks1 says:

        I heard a clip on Twitter of him reading one segment about Rebekah Brooks (the fake “harry goes to rehab story!”) and while I had already read that part in the book, hearing him say it out loud was…..something else.

  16. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    Horses gotta horse.

  17. ❌❌❌Tart ❌❌❌ says:

    For me..the biggest story for anyone who claims to have lived Diana is…..this is how Camilla, the other woman, has treated Diana’s children.

    • ❌❌❌Tart ❌❌❌ says:

      For me, the biggest story is, for anyone who claims to have loved Diana is ……this is how Camilla, the other woman in Diana’s marriage, is treating Diana’s children.

  18. Kate says:

    The royals and their various advisors simply cannot fathom someone saying what they mean and meaning what they say. These comments that he will regret it and it’s too late now and other manipulation tactics so obviously show that they don’t understand that Harry already has come to terms with losing his family. Harry has been in therapy, he knows he can’t expect his family to change or take accountability. He is speaking the truth for himself, his wife and his kids.

    • Kingston says:

      The thing that saddens me about all this, by which I mean, the recalcitrance of the Harry’s family, is that, at some point in the future, they will indeed have rapprochement but it will be so long in the future, they will have all lost valuable time; they will have all aged; the children will all be grown; perhaps charles will be on his deathbed at the time.

      And then it might occur to him: what was all that wasted time about? Why could we not have done this sooner, when our minds and bodies were still viable; etc.

      But who am I kidding. Charles will go the place beyond this place still thinking he did nothing wrong. And, of course, that pompous arse who’s next in line, will prolly believe that being king will give him the power he needs to bring Harry to heel.

      LMFAO.

  19. JJ says:

    So am I to believe that King Charles “wanting to” invite Harry to his thing in May, where over one thousand people will be in attendance is a true attempt at reconciliation? “I’m thinking of inviting you to my party in May with so many damn people I probably don’t have to see or speak to you” is an offer of reconciliation??? Boy bye! How about you tell your wife to stop consorting with the vilest persecutors of your daughter-in-law for a start?

  20. HeyKay says:

    They just can not be quiet, can they?
    I’ve been saying for weeks, the best thing The Firm can do is Shut Up, stay out of the public eye.
    TQ had the correct idea. Never explain, never complain.
    Every time anyone from KC opens their mouth, they shoot themselves in the foot.

    The Firm should keep all of them out of sight, release zero comments.
    Send Chuck out for the very shortened version of the coronation and then go back to shutting up.

    Look at the other royals..they stroll out 2-4x a year looking overdressed, have a photo taken, go away.

    • Kingston says:

      @HeyKate

      LOL Nothing with the brf is as it seems.

      “The queen/the BRF” do not have a motto; its the courtiers and, thru them, their co-conspirators in the britshidtmedia that created that big fat fallacy. And, btw, when i reference “britshidtmedia,” I mean ALL the media in britain. I make no distinction because theyre all of a piece as far as I can see. On any given day, a headline seen in the DM or the Scum or any of the other visible shidtrags, will also be seen in the Times or the Telegraph or the BBC.

      Their co-conspirators promulgated this notion of “never complain/never explain” because thats the narrative they wanted to frame for the royals, as cover for their: “palace sources say……”…..”a close friend said….” a spokesman said…..” and all the other euphemisms they use to indicate to the undiscerning, that the leaking and planting of stories are coming directly from charles, cowmilla, bulliam, and, at one time, the middletons.

      As H said in the docu-series: the britshidtmedia act in the strongly held belief that “this family is ours to exploit;” their story, their pain [etc] is ours to control….”

      And even when neither charles, bulliam, cowmilla nor their private secretaries/comm spokesho/etc have said nothing on any given day, there will still be stories in the shidtrags saying they said x or y or they feel this or that way, because the shidtrags just makes it up on the daily until the brf needs to use them for some more planting and leaking.

      Cos, who’s gonna check the shidtmedia, boo? Charles, cowmilla, bulliam, et al, have to remain schtum in their gilded cage and take it up the arse.

      • Jennifer says:

        It might have been the queen’s motto, but it’s not anyone else’s. “Brief and leak” is probably the current slogan.

  21. Amy Bee says:

    If Charles had any interest in reconciliation he would do it before the coronation. Inviting Harry to the coronation is not reconciliation.

  22. ShirleyC says:

    Harry is the most famous and beloved member of that family, they need him because being adjacent to him will make them look cool. He doesn’t need them, he is independent, financially secure, happy and loved. Everything they do to try to demean him will make them look bad, he has exposed the way they operate and unless they change that, they will be the cause of their own destruction.

  23. PaperclipExtraordinaire says:

    Harry attacking HIS (KC’s) wife?!?!?? They live in the bizzaro dimension. JFC…

  24. ChattyCath says:

    Check out Dan Wooton who claims the ‘only leaks have come from Meghan’s evil Hollywood mates’

  25. lanne says:

    They just.don’t.get.it.

    They are like George 3, realizing they have lost America. (Mainstream America–they still have the MAGAts). Harry and Meghan are bigger than they are, and they don’t know what to do. Harry and Meghan are the royal story. Not Charles, not the Waleses, not Camilla.

    We at Celebitchy have been predicting all of this, for years. An unencumbered Harry and Meghan are a force too strong for the royal family. Their charisma could have been used to support the royal family, and even buy that institution decades of time. Harry and Meghan will loom over everything they do, and the royals have no idea what to do. The biggest damage is that Harry shows that he can do better without them. They no longer look aspirational. They look outdated, old, racist. Even the European royals, with all of the young Queens on the horizon, look fresher and more exciting in the future. The British royal family is geriatric and out of touch. Middle Aged William and Kate can’t fix that.

    The royals need to realize that there’s no “winning” here. I don’t think they understand that yet–there’s nothing to “win” against Harry and Meghan. They still have the upper hand, through inertia and tradition, but they run the risk of looking even more out of touch and, frankly, insane, with each sortie they attempt to fire at Harry. They’re calling a man who’s happy and healthy “crazy?” How can they do that and expect to support mental health? They ignore the call for Meghan to be sexually abused, and they expect to support domestic violence? People will be calling them out on their performative nonsense, openly.

    These wounds are entirely self-inflicted. They need new advisors and a new mission, but these are the type of fools who will steer the Titanic smack into the iceberg, launch the life boats empty, and then go down with the ship, still convinced they have done everything right as they drown. Will it be fun to watch? Yes! Their bad press and bad optics couldn’t happen to a more deserving set of goons.

    Throughout all this, they still need Harry and Meghan. No one will talk about anything else before the coronation. Harry has Invictus Games coming up this year. And Meghan has her own book on the horizon–that’s the last piece of this puzzle, and it’s an important one historically. My guess is that she’s going to take some time, some years, to gain perspective on everything before she tells her own story, but her story needs to be told.

    The royals are in for a rough, rough time ahead.

    • Jaded says:

      Spot on. I’m reminded of Bette Davis’s great line from “All About Eve”…”Better fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” Well I’d say the bumps for the BRF are going to be pretty much continuous for the foreseeable future.

  26. Veda says:

    The wicked windsors of the west are at it again. I hope they read the book. I just completed it. Harry has shown them, esp willy, so much grace. He has told his story with a lot of compassion and empathy. And has done them a favour by convincingly eviscerating the credibility of the press. No matter what the BM writes about the RF now, no one will believe it. And he has neutered Evil Camilla in the process.

  27. Saucy&Sassy says:

    Well, you reap what you sow. What I particularly like about all of this is that the brf are showing that they are quite vindictive. People who watched any of the interviews are going to see for themselves that Harry is intelligent, confident and at peace within. I wonder if any of the people in that family understands how unhinged the media–briefed by them–are looking by people outside of the UK? They can spin this anyway they want, but we’ve all seen the vitriol coming from the UK against Meghan before they ever left. We’ve continued to see the vitriol since. The article written by Clarkson was a HUGE mistake on a global scale. Perhaps there’s enough people in the UK who agree with the article, but globally this was beyond egregious and no one in the brf spoke out about it. Globally, that’s the lense through which the world is viewing this.

  28. Jaded says:

    I’m relishing this. I can see Camzilla in her war room at Ray Mill growling on the phone with her tabloid bottom-feeders and swilling gin straight out of the bottle. I got my e-reader copy this morning — perfect timing as I’m scheduled for a colonoscopy tomorrow afternoon and can’t eat and have to do a purge. I will while away the hungry day and a half devouring the book!

  29. OriginalLeigh says:

    “Charles will not tolerate Harry attacking his wife and that Harry may have crossed a line by speaking about Camilla”

    Maybe Charles should lead by example and stop attacking Harry’s wife???

    • Ana says:

      Now Imagine if Charles had defended his first wife against perceived attacks….? Where was that husband then. Both William and Charles have put out these indignant statements defending their wives respective honors, so it’s ridiculous that they would expect Harry to sit back and take it when they attack his wife.

  30. Feeshalori says:

    I read that the Palace lawyers were on standby in case Harry really went off on the royals in the book. So as revelatory as this book is, it still wasn’t as bad as they thought it could have been. So that begs the question: What hasn’t he revealed? Maybe William’s penchant for 🌹 gardening among other truly scandalous items? If that is the case, then good for Harry. He has more ammunition in the future to hold over their heads if they don’t back off.

    • Angelica Schuyler says:

      I would bet money that Harry has lots more ammunition in the tank. That’s why they’re trying so hard to get him to heel now. They want to get him back in line with their priorities so he won’t do any further damage. They really believe that he’s as daft as they’ve tried to make him out to be for all these years, not realizing that he is truly the strong one. They spread their propaganda and lies about Harry for so long that they really began to believe it. Now with Meghan by his side to clear away the nonsense and provide Harry with a different lens to view life, he is really stronger than ever.
      They should stop underestimating Harry. But they won’t….
      They can’t help themselves.

    • Sue E Generis says:

      Harry stuck to his own lane. He only told his personal story. The reason the RF looks bad is because they happen to be bad people, not because Harry was trying to make them look that way.

      If Harry was really vengeful, he would have laid bare everyone’s business, which he did not. I believe he also made a strategic PR decision to downplay the racism in this round.

    • Feeshalori says:

      I’m sure he’s holding back some of his cards until the RF play dirty again I.e. releasing the bullying rebuttal. He’s been incredibly gracious and not vengeful this time around but certainly relentless, and I’m sure won’t hesitate if the need arises where he may have to get more aggressive if the RF don’t back off. Nothing is stopping him from writing more books or doing more interviews where he’s putting the focus more on the palaces.

  31. Plums says:

    It’s so interesting watching the usual royal news way of reporting with the internationally acceptable of the rota playing the same game in American news coverage of Buckingham Palace hasn’t responded but “sources close to” or “a palace source” when reporting the reactions from the rest of the royal family, as if Harry didn’t just specifically call out the practice as the palace using tabloid mouthpieces to respond and pretend they didn’t.

  32. Sue E Generis says:

    I don’t know how Harry is still sane and calm because this makes me want to shoot someone.

    1) Charles wants Harry at the coronation to show the public who’s in charge, to bask in the reflected attention, to treat him and Meghan like they were treated at the funeral.

    2) Charles is offended that Harry ‘attacked’ his wife? This is where I go nuts. Camilla sent Jeremy Clarkson 2 weeks ago to print the most heinous attack. Before that, everyone attacked Harry’s wife daily for years. I’m steaming just thinking about this.

  33. Is That So says:

    Native born Brits see themselves as the cream of civilization.

    The royals and their loyalist seem themselves as fine well-aged cheese made from that cream. They can’t imagine anyone not wanting a bite of them.

    The thing the royals and their loyalists haven’t realized, some people are lactose intolerant, and it get worse with age. Others just don’t like any variety of cheese and never will. Still there are those who find the truly sophisticated variety of cheese gag inducing.

    Yet in their ignorance, the royals carry on as if they are what everyone aspire to sink their teeth into. When they aren’t.

    • Emily_C says:

      They aren’t sophisticated cheese and never were. They’re rotten milk from diseased cows.

  34. Eenie Googles says:

    “I bet she neighed in surprise”

    😮

  35. Oya says:

    Charles only wants Harry there for the publicity not to reconcile. I really hope they don’t go.

  36. Christine says:

    Hi, Windsors. If Harry was out for “vengeance”, there would be blood. Look up your own family history. Calm down, he wrote a book.

  37. Teddyclaws says:

    Camilla is astounded? Why? Did she think that she would never be called out on her evil?

  38. Tessa says:

    Camilla gave an interview 5 years ago and played victim because she could not leave her home after diana died. Never indicating any regret at how she treated diana.