Gyles Brandreth is a royal biographer and personal friend of King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla and he was reportedly friendly with the late QEII as well. Brandreth was the one who revealed, months after QEII’s passing, that she likely had bone marrow cancer. He was also behind some of the extraordinary reporting that QEII couldn’t hear, walk or concentrate in her final years, but that she was absolutely mad at Prince Harry. Coincidentally (because I found this in our archives), Brandreth was sent out to throw a hissy fit over Princess Lilibet’s name in 2021 – Brandreth, at the behest of Buckingham Palace, claimed that Harry was supposed to submit his daughter’s name in writing to QEII for her approval. You get the idea – he’s well-connected to the Windsors and he does their bidding, but not full-time. Well, ahead of QEII’s death-anniversary, Brandreth has written a piece in the Mail about stuff that happened around QEII’s death and funeral – you can read the full piece here (it’s boring) and here are the relevant highlights:

QEII’s thoughts on Harry’s memoir: The publication of Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare — and the six-part Harry & Meghan Netflix television series that came before it — were definitely ‘events’ in the ongoing story of the House of Windsor [during the funeral]. Both appeared after the death of Elizabeth II — but she had known her grandson was writing a memoir, and there is no evidence that this caused her distress. In fact, her attitude to royal memoirs had changed over the years and she ‘understood’ her grandson’s desire to tell his own story. That doesn’t mean, however, that she would have been happy with the result. Quite the contrary.

QEII would have hated Harry’s revelations though: As you may recall, the scandalous and scurrilous elements of Spare included: Harry taking cocaine at 17; Harry trying ‘magic mushrooms’ and hallucinating in a lavatory; Harry losing his virginity in a field behind a pub to ‘an older lady’ who used him ‘not unlike a young stallion’; Harry killing 25 members of the Taliban, whom he viewed as ‘chess pieces’ taken off the board; Harry describing his frostbitten ‘todger’ and being advised to apply Elizabeth Arden cream to it, the smell of which reminded him of his mother. Prince Philip had always actively counselled against this kind of public revelation. And much as she was devoted to Harry, it would have appalled Elizabeth II, too.

William’s thoughts on Harry: As for Prince William, he was infuriated by the stuff about tensions between him and his brother and, more so, about those between their respective wives, Catherine and Meghan. Privately, William echoed his grandmother’s line following the notorious Oprah Winfrey interview: ‘Recollections may vary’ — adding: ‘In this instance, they most definitely do.’

How Charles has reacted to Spare: Little wonder, perhaps, that — beyond the fact of the book — Charles was distressed by what Harry had to say about his beloved wife. That said, visiting Windsor and Buckingham Palace and Clarence House in recent months, it has been clear to me that the Harry and Meghan saga, while causing irritation and frustration — and some sadness for the King — has not preoccupied the senior members of the Royal Family in anything like the way it appears to have gripped and fascinated the world’s media. Following the example of Elizabeth II, they are focusing on the job of monarchy and taking ‘the long view’.

[From The Daily Mail]

“She had known her grandson was writing a memoir, and there is no evidence that this caused her distress. In fact, her attitude to royal memoirs had changed over the years and she ‘understood’ her grandson’s desire to tell his own story.” And then Brandreth goes on to say that if QEII had lived to see Spare, she would have hated all of it. These people always mix up their talking points, probably because the palace communications offices are run by clowns – they want to say that everything Harry did and said affected the poor Queen’s rundown health, but they also want to make her sound like she was perfectly fine with helping Andrew pay off his rape victim and she totally signed off on “Queen Consort Camilla.” Like, it wouldn’t surprise me if QEII was in very poor health for the last year of her life, but every single thing she did towards Harry showed how much she cared about him and wanted him to find his freedom too. Still, they’re going to use her as a cudgel against Harry forever.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.