King Charles’s BFF Nicholas Soames criticizes ‘cruel, hurtful’ Prince Harry

Throughout Prince Harry’s Spare, there’s a palpable love from Harry to his father. While Harry at times describes Charles in unflattering ways, throughout the book, you can absolutely feel how much Harry cares for his garbage, dogsh-t father. Months after Spare’s publication, palace “sources” even admitted as much, basically saying that King Charles felt like he dodged a bullet and that Spare could have been a lot worse for Charles. Of course, the official position from Buckingham Palace is that Harry is persona non grata, that Charles is deeply hurt that Harry exposed Camilla’s machinations, that the entire family feels “betrayed” by Harry (after they betrayed him). Well, now one of the king’s closest friends has gone on the record about Harry’s “cruelty.” Yes, HARRY was the cruel one, according to these people.

The man said by some to be the king’s best friend has given an astonishing interview, excoriating Prince Harry for “hurtful” behavior of “the cruelest” kind toward his father. The extraordinary interview with Sir Nicholas Soames was released by Times Radio at 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, just as the country was entering the final furlongs of coronation preparations and with Harry due to arrive in the country any hour for the coronation on Saturday.

The explosive allegations matter because Soames, while not explicitly named as a surrogate for the king, had likely been authorized to speak by the king’s office, and appeared to have a talking point that Harry’s behavior, in publishing a memoir and giving interviews that have attacked the family, had deeply wounded and upset the king.

While the royals have tried hard to starve Harry of the oxygen of publicity so far, Soames’ pre-emptive strike on his character represents a rare moment of naked PR realpolitik from the palace. The days of pretending Harry isn’t happening to this coronation will come to a shuddering halt the moment Harry, who is expected to step off a plane from L.A. sometime Friday and make a beeline for his soon-to-be-vacated home Frogmore Cottage, is spotted on British soil.

Soames’ comments matter. A grandson of Winston Churchill, he is a sufficiently close friend of Charles, who he has known since he was 12, that he asked Charles to be his best man at his wedding and served as equerry to him. He described himself as “entirely partial” in the interview, saying, “I love him and admire him very, very much indeed.”

Soames told Times Radio, in the course of a 30-minute interview praising the king, “In respect of Prince Harry, I just think it’s the most tragic. I mean, I can’t put myself in the position where my own son, if he did something like that to me, it would just be the cruelest… and one would mind.”

He added, “Of course, the king was very, very sad,” and said the situation was “tragic,” adding, “But, we all have families. We’ve all lived through it. But it was a terrible blow.”

Soames loyally supported the king’s decision to invite him, however, saying, “I think it would have been a great pity if Prince Harry hadn’t come to his father’s coronation. And he is coming and I just hope that we can keep all this in proportion. This day is about the king and the queen, not about Prince Harry.”

Soames was asked later in the interview how Queen Camilla felt about Harry but dodged the question saying he hadn’t discussed it with her, returning instead to how Harry’s public attacks on the family had affected Charles, saying, “Of course it was hurtful, you could see it, written all over his face. Put oneself in his position. It was just painful beyond words.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“While the royals have tried hard to starve Harry of the oxygen of publicity so far” – the palace has been openly briefing their press allies about all things Sussex for months. The palace happily put the Sussexes front-and-center during all of the coronation hoopla because it was a distraction from how grim, drab and uncharismatic the rest of the Windsors are. There’s an acknowledgement, somewhere, that Harry and Meghan are the stars. “The days of pretending Harry isn’t happening to this coronation will come to a shuddering halt”– again, the palace has made everything about Harry. They even authorized King Charles’s BFF to speak ON CAMERA about Harry just before the coronation.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Avalon Red.

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82 Responses to “King Charles’s BFF Nicholas Soames criticizes ‘cruel, hurtful’ Prince Harry”

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  1. Flower says:

    The fact that Charles allows those close to him to speak so disparagingly about his son not only backs up Harry’s claims but also serves to highlight how terrible a father Charles is.

    He has repeatedly sacrificed Harry for his own gains and this tramp of a failed politician dares to trash talk Harry.

    • TOM says:

      Channeling Tina Fey in “ 30 Rock”: Shut it down!

    • Rackel says:

      – these people are trying to drum up interest in the coronation. From Camilla hairdresser bringing up megan to this guy. Anything to get viewers.

    • Couch Potato says:

      Chuck didn’t think twice about publishing his grievance towards his parents. If anything, Harry’s just following in daddy dearest’s foot steps.

    • Concern Fae says:

      “Why won’t Harry stop me from hitting myself? Why?Why? Why?””

    • Lily says:

      Soames is a fat piece of trash. Always has been.

      • Emme says:

        @Lily, 100% agree. “Fatty” Soames, as he’s known, is a nasty piece of blubber. Over the years he has been relentless in his attacks on Diana, and now he’s gunning for Harry. Charles’s big mouth-piece indeed.

  2. girl_ninja says:

    Zzzzzzzzz Zzz 😴

    All Charles the Horse Whisperer cares about is himself, the crown and his queen mistress. Bum.

  3. equality says:

    So yet another nattering on about the hurt of KC and ignoring the hurt that KC has inflicted on his own parents with Dimbleby’s help and the hurt that KC has inflicted on PH with his constant scapegoating.

    • Chloe says:

      The reason why these type of articles always get me riled up is because of Charles, Camilla and williams actions, meghan was literally suicidal. She wanted to take her own life. And even after all this came to light the lot of them are still on the same bullshit. I hate these royals with a fire of a thousand suns. I hope thunder will strike the abbey tomorrow

      • HamsterJam says:

        I am right there with you and I wish someone would excerpt some quotes from Charles’ Dimbleby book and put them next to quotes from Harry’s memoir for comparison.

        Charles was unbelievable in that book, he really stuck the knife into his mother and father.

      • Kingston says:

        @Chloe………as @HamsterJam said, I am right there with you, also.

        In all these cold, white-supremacist mouthpieces’ bleatings about Harry and Meghan and how theyve “hurt the family,” and “betrayed” them and how what H&M have done (still to be clarified!) is “cruel” and “hurtful” etc. NOT ONE OF THEM has mentioned how H&M might have felt in the wake of the sustained and targeted media abuse of M, aided and abetted by charles, his cohoe, and bullyam and their handlers in BP, CH and KP.

        There, ive spelt it out.

        And this is because they DO NOT SEE Harry and especially Meghan’s HUMANITY.

        These cold, white-supremacist mouthpieces have studiously refused to acknowledge one iota of the pain that M suffered from the sustained and targeted media abuse, aided and abetted by charles, his cohoe, and bullyam and their handlers in BP, CH and KP.

        But, as we say in the SSquad (taking our cue from Celie in The Color Purple: “Until you do right by [H&M] everything you think about is going to crumble.”

        Translation: Until [chuckyDaTURD & Bullyam] do right by [H&M] they will not know peace.

    • IMary Pester says:

      @equality, if I were Harry I would get the next plane out, after sending a message to his father, copying on this SLUG AND THE TIMES, saying “I warned you, that if there was anymore of this crap I wouldn’t attend, and the minute I set foot in the UK pa, your best friend, obviously with your full knowledge, runs off at the mouth about me in the press. Well if you think because I have arrived, I won’t leave again!, well your very wrong and please pass my thanks to Mr sommes for proving to me once and for all, that neither you or your wife can be trusted, and by the way, remember how you said your father was harsh and hectoring and your mother was cold and emotionally distant,? And you DARE to let your friend critisise me. Remember pa, how you always loved Shakespeare! Well here’s another line you might like “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Be prepared pa, because your darling boy, is now going home, to release volume TWO with receipts!!! So I would say, VERY uneasy WILL lie the head that wears the crown X two

      • Kingston says:

        @IMary Pester

        Woweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
        Youre on fire!
        Yes, yes and yes! if only H would do all that!

        But naah. H is a soldier and lives by the maxim: never let your enemy see you coming.

  4. lanne says:

    Why of why does no one ask these foilks about Charles’s Dimbleby book? Are the British media just enablers? What happened to journalism? Why does every single thing from the royal family go compleyely unquestioned and unscrutinized? Is the UK turning into North Korea as we speak?

    And really, the eve of the coronation and the conversation is still about Harry?

    • Jais says:

      Yes, the BM are just enablers. On the whole, they are enablers. There are some dissenters for sure but the silence on the Dimbleby book says a lot. And the fact that Harry could’ve gone much much harder.

    • tamra says:

      I am old enough to remember when the BBC had respect worldwide! The media is a joke now as they ignore everything royal. I have heard that they sold out to the royals years ago!

    • notasugarhere says:

      Today The Guardian reported on Dimbleby comments blaming the Archbishop for the oath debacle. Guardian isn’t buying the BS spin coming from Dimbleby/Charles.

  5. Rackel says:

    I read the headline first and made the same face harry made. Charles knew his mother was ill. He should’ve told Camilla and crew to ease up with the leaking. He should’ve told William to let his brother breathe.

  6. The projection again is outrageous! Still pandering to the sickos who believe this nonsense. I hope Harry will be safe because they are doing their best to rile up the sickos into doing something.

  7. Chloe says:

    Are charles and his clan really not getting it? How do you leak negative after negative story about your son and his wife and then get upset when he decides to get set the record straight. Harry is literally on the way to the coronation as per his father wishes and THIS is how they continue to treat him???

    If someone of team Archewell reads this; it’s not to late to pull out!

    • Becks1 says:

      its like what Meghan said in the Oprah interview….how can the firm expect her to remain silent while they’re still actively briefing against her?

    • NotTheOne says:

      All this amplifies how deeply self-centered the royal family is. They are taught narcissism at an early age.

      Harry’s book talks about his experience, his life, the challenges he faced. To say it was a hit piece is telling us there was much, much more behind the little anecdotes he shared about his family. They are reacting to the full picture, not the glimpse that was shared.

  8. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    Once, just once I would love either a British or American reporter to ask about the royals behavior in all of this. The leaks from the palaces, the “friends” that broadcast the feelings of the various family members, just once.

  9. swaz says:

    This tells me one thing, that the Royal Family is not happy with Harry’s demands and know that this weekend will be all about HARRY 🙄 SO HERE COMES THE NEGATIVE INTERVIEWS OCHESTRATED BY THE ROYAL FAMILY. There will be no happy family photos with Harry, and Harry will definitely be away from the cameras 🤣🤣🤣.

  10. SURE says:

    “Nicholas Soames personally apologised to the Prime Minister before being slapped down by John Major in the Commons yesterday for going over the top in accusing the Princess of Wales of being in the “advanced stages of paranoia”….. Soames has form!

  11. Jan says:

    Well if the BRF tried to starve off energy from Harry’s book they failed like everything they did to the Sussexes.
    SPARE book publisher, release they first quarter earnings and they where quite happy with “Spare”
    In the book, when Harry was at his grandfather’s funeral, he said this was the first time that he saw how old Chucky looked.
    A lot of people working in mental health are giving ‘Spare’ great reviews.

  12. Nx2 says:

    Nicholas Soames, the one who barked at a fellow MP because she was a woman of color? He also claimed Diana was mentally ill and in the late stages of paranoia, BEFORE Chucky finally admitted his affair with Crocmilla while still married to Diana. If this is Chucky’s ‘best friend’ it speaks volumes about Chucky.

  13. Dee says:

    The truth hurts, eh, Chuck?

  14. Sheyr says:

    What a vile father Charles is. My heart breaks for Harry (and his naïveté hoping for some affection from his useless father).

    Had a clinic this morning with 10 patients and asked them neutrally about their plans for the bank holiday. Surprisingly all 10 of them were vehemently opposed to watching the coronation.

    One (quite a well educated woman in her late 60s) said it was thoughtless to spend so much on a ceremony during an economic crisis. The rest had other plans but made it a point to tell me that they were avoiding it.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Sheyr, it makes me wonder how representative these 10 people are. This Clowning may be a total disaster.

      • Sheyr says:

        Oddly enough, if you go to the doctors forums in the UK, a significant number of those commenting (maybe a self selecting group?) don’t seem to like Harry very much. Weirdly they have bought into the tabloid narrative, a couple of them even quoting that vile Lady C.

        There was similar skepticism after the Oprah interview about M’s suicidal ideation which appalled me. usually am a silent observer but I have lost 4 people close to me to suicide and it’s a trigger for me.

        I worry about their patients. Made me wonder how empathetic they actually are with those under their care. Sadly, while there are very many extremely decent people in the UK, the intolerance seems more obvious to me now, possibly as a result of the media stoking it and definitely after Brexit.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      @ Sheyr, I am immensely pleased with your information regarding how some actual Brits feel. I am always curious as I don’t trust any other of their doctored up “polls” as they will always alter the truth. There seems to be a great deal of misinformation on the Island of Petty and Vile, so it was a breathe of fresh air to hear that there are those that do not feel an alliance with Chucky too!

      Do take care and working in HC is a stressful and under appreciated profession.

      • Sheyr says:

        Thank you. Yes the NHS is under a lot of pressure now. I hope the election results will help the politicians take public welfare more seriously.

  15. Brassy Rebel says:

    Whole lot of gaslighting in this one. But it further highlights how far Britain has fallen in the last eighty years or so. They’ve gone from Churchill’s magnificent WWII oratory (and yes, I know he was a rotten, racist scumbag except for his war leadership) to his grandson giving a gossipy interview about the royal family to a right wing radio outlet.

  16. Kristen820 says:

    I read this article for no other reason than the photo on the main page of Harry and his “Sure, Jan” expression LMAO

  17. ML says:

    “Well, now one of the king’s closest friends has gone on the record about Harry’s “cruelty.”” Back to never complaining and never explaining, are we? Interesting that Soames didn’t want to go on record with QCC’s thoughts as well.

  18. Harper says:

    Just another old fart amongst many other old farts blathering on about mean Prince Harry. Nope to The Daily Beast trying to tell us this old toad’s ramblings are special. We already know that CRex hates Harry and Meghan and Archie and Lili. CRex EVICTED them from the secure home that they paid for and he took away their security when they were most vulnerable. We get it.

    • tamra says:

      chuckles (and william) probably have fantasies about Meghan all day everyday! Probably most of the old men around chuckles and wee willie do too! LMAO!!!

  19. Blithe says:

    I guess this means that Soames was invited to the coronation?

    Not for the first time, I hope that someone capable writes a definitive psycho-history of this family. Similar to Donald Trump’s public ravings, what the BRF is putting out there publicly is invaluably informative to anyone with even a minimal interest in psychopathology.

    I’m wondering, too, where all of these family friends were throughout Harry’s early life — when he and William surely could have benefited from support and protection.

  20. Amy Bee says:

    Charles gets his friends to criticise Harry in press so he can keep his “dignified silence”.

    • Chrissy says:

      Yup! He’s such a coward. I wish that a Harry would get back on that plane and go home….to his real family.

  21. Eurydice says:

    The RF doesn’t have “best friends.” Everything is transactional with them. Charles is king; Harry is not. You suck up where the power is.

  22. Tessa says:

    Soames was cruel and hurtful to Diana and went to the media to trash her. Now he is bashing harry. Charles uses his pals to do the slamming. I hope harry does not return for a long time.

    • Tigerlily says:

      @Tessa very true. Soames was an utter a$$hole to Diana back in the day. Charlie’s mouthpiece then & now I guess. I’m 2 years older than Diana & remember very clearly the gaslighting that went on. Soames needs to stfu.

  23. Jk says:

    I really wish Harry would change his plans and not turn up to the coronation. This is Charles & co, stabbing his son in his back until the very last minute. Can you imagine! The entire coronation coverage would be about Harry not being there instead of about Charles!

  24. CheChe says:

    What comes through loud and clear with all the snide Sussex bashing is the clear and present danger that the only real royal story involves Harry and Meghan. I never read the tripe being written but note the constant need to insert the negative Sussex spin that never really moves the needle in support of the royal remainders.

  25. HeyKay says:

    Look, Harry&M are so far out front WINNING in their lives that these constant snotty, anti H&M planted pieces are just idiotic.

    Charles & The Firm either make changes and become useful or go out of biz.
    Please STHU!
    So tiresome.

  26. kelleybelle says:

    But never cruel, hurtful Charles, right? God these people make me ILL.

  27. L4Frimaire says:

    And this is why Meghan had the sense to stay home in Montecito. There is absolutely no reason to mention Harry regarding this coronation other than to note he is there in the audience. Even the day before they are focusing on Harry and mad Meghan messed up their press plans. This newly mouth complaining just shows once again how self-pitying Charles is.

  28. tamra says:

    Hopefully he has a seat “in the back”, so he can make a dash for the car ASAP!

  29. PJ says:

    I’ll be really glad when this whole clown show is over. But I have a feeling it won’t stop the British press from making up stories about H & M.

    Also, did anyone else notice that the Royal Family twitter account referred to C&C as “The King and Queen Consort?” So are we back to Queen Consort? Was there enough push back on Charles ignoring QEII’s wishes?

  30. Saschafrom76 says:

    I actually don’t even read what they say anymore just skim to see how bad then skip. it’s too disgusting the gaslighting gives me stomach ache. He wrote a book (once – not everyday like they are) of his truth and none of these people are saying the horrendous things he said were lies, only that him and Meg should’ve taken it laying down and continue to do so. And they just keep smearing and attacking like it’s okay if they do it – like he should expect that and still want to come back…as the Spare! Facepalm. It’s truly unhinged. I’m so worried about him until he get back to California. My stomach hurts.

    • Beverley says:

      I feel the same way, Saschafrom76. I feel that if the RF could devise a way to detain him, or harm Harry in any way, they’re seriously considering it. Jealous Will certainly won’t rest until Harry either comes back to be his servant/scapegoat or dies.

      I’m hoping Harry bounces the moment the Con-a-Nation is over.

  31. Jaded says:

    Soames has been named as the most prolific source of vulgar and sexist comments in the Houses of Parliament, with several female MPs stating that he has made vulgar comments to them. Barbara Follett said in 2007 that Soames was the worst of the sexist MPs in parliament.
    On 31 January 2017, Soames made ‘woofing’ noises at Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh when she was asking the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, a question in the House of Commons. Ahmed-Sheikh called a point of order to bring the speaker’s attention to the noises. John Bercow, the speaker, described the noises as “discourteous and that expression should not be used”, and Soames was asked to apologize. He did so, saying he was only offering her a “friendly canine salute” in reply to her “snapped” question.

    The guy sounds like an utter sexist, racist pr*ck.

  32. sparrow says:

    Nothing new here. Soames is a loathsome man, often shoved front and centre by Charles to say what he can’t be heard to say himself.

  33. CatJ says:

    My husband just showed me a clip of 75,000 attendees at a soccer match in Glasgow singing a song to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain……. “You can shove your coronation up your azzzzz!” Hilarious!

  34. Sue E Generis says:

    So Harry leaves his wife and family, flies across continents, misses his son’s birthday to support his father, and his father’s response is to send an emissary to shit on him in the press as soon as he lands. And Harry is the cruel one? And AGAIN, I ask, what is it that Harry and Meghan are supposed to have done, exactly?

  35. QuiteContrary says:

    Racist, classist and misogynistic old white men like this drive my English husband around the bend — he loathes even shows like “Downton Abbey” for glorifying horrible gits like this.

    When we lived in London, I was kind of immune to their snobbery as an American. They came across as laughable caricatures to me. But for this pig to trash Harry the way he trashed Diana — at Charles’ behest — is just disgusting. I hope Diana brings down the heavens on Charles’ head tomorrow.

  36. jferber says:

    Harry’s face in the above photo says it all: these people are all demented dolts and he’ll fly in, do his duty and fly out as quickly and as gracefully as possible. That’s what he does. I hope the truly important event, the birthday party in Montecito, is a smash hit. And I hope the vanity event that cost the taxpayers upwards of 250 million pounds falls flat, as it undoubtedly will. I’d love to have seen a 250 million pound initiative made on behalf of the struggling people of England, but Charles wanted his party, instead, which will surely benefit the English people for years to come. Cheers.

  37. HamsterJam says:

    KFC is on his victory lap as King getting every damn thing he wanted including a queen and a 3 million pound party thrown for him by the taxpayers.

    You would think that for once the man would be happy.

    But NOOO, on the eve of this he has to put out in the public how hurt and upset he is at his son and what a horrible person his son is for hurting him, but oh, he is bearing it all SO stoically and never shows his hurt feelings about his son, except all day every day in every newspaper in the country that will print it.

    The man is pissing on his own parade.

  38. Well Wisher says:

    This is a poor attempt to centre the narrative on Prince Harry. It is pretty obvious that nothing has worked so far to make the four senior royals be in good light with the population. They do not sell like a brand, because people do not shop for a constitutional Head of State. They elect a government, not have to a selected one like the present.

    This is not about the feud, a brave father in the right would have not invited his son instead of invite him and be a horrible host by having his friend slag him off in public just hours before his big day…..

  39. j.ferber says:

    Well Wisher, I fear this is just the beginning of Charles being a “horrible host” to his son. Harry has (maybe) just arrived in the UK and already Charles is “having his friend slag him off in public just hours before his big day.” I don’t know what “slagging off” is, but it sounds dastardly and I just know Charles put the guy up to it. A “grace and favor” preview of all the Charles and his shite family have in store for poor Harry?

  40. AC says:

    It just pssts them off that HM are able to be successful and still strive without any of them. Even though it was the Firm that forcefully let go 2 people who clearly and I mean clearly would have been huge assets to the BRF – just because their arrogance, jealousies and biases took over. After HM left, the BRF PR has been terrible. Well, They get what they paid for.

  41. j.ferber says:

    Thanks, Aunt Agatha.

  42. blunt talker says:

    this article definitely had the approval of somebody higher up-why write this disgusting trash the day before the ceremony-I said yesterday Camilla will have her pit bulls out in full force aiming at Harry. it has already started before the ceremony and continue through the entire holiday. God please be with Harry and keep him safe.

  43. sammi says:

    This man went on TV after Diana’s interview and called her paranoid and that Charles was a saint and not to blame for any of the problems with their marriage! Find the interview and you will see how deranged he was in support of Charles and how the interviewer challenged him on his’diagnosis’ of paranoia.