Endgame: QEII told Charles to speak to Harry & ‘just tell him what he needs to hear’

Earlier this week, we talked about the part in Endgame where Omid Scobie carefully discusses King Charles’s ineptitude at managing any crisis, especially a family crisis. The Windsors are “increasingly frustrated” that their king and family patriarch has bungled this Sussex drama so badly. Throughout Endgame, there are details sprinkled around, like even Prince Edward suggested to Charles that he actually sit down and speak to Harry and try to make peace. This is something I’ve been saying for years now – Charles should have positioned himself as the father who extended an open invitation to his “wayward son” to hash out their joint grievances. That positioning would have put the onus on Harry. Instead, Charles has publicly shown himself to be a dogsh-t father, a terrible manager and a sadist who would rather “punish” his son than speak to him. Well, here’s an interesting piece of info: even QEII told Charles to make peace with Harry.

Charles has failed to manage the Sussex crisis for years: The new king is still dealing with the fallout from his inability to convene and command his own family. His ineptitude surrounding the Harry and Meghan saga has effectively turned the couple into the disruptors they were feared to become in the first place. “And so much of it could have been prevented,” said a mutual family friend. “For so long Harry had made it clear that he and Meghan simply wanted to be heard. That they wanted the opportunity to sit down and talk through the past, from both perspectives, and find a way to move forward. For Harry, it was about seeking accountability and, where appropriate, apologies.”

QEII told Charles to tell Harry what he needs to hear: A former Clarence House staff member said Charles was encouraged by senior aides and, on at least one occasion, the Queen herself to swallow his pride. “Just tell him what he needs to hear . . . That’s what was said,” admitted the former employee. Instead, Charles chose to say nothing and turn the other way as the Sussexes shared their story via Netflix in December 2022 and Harry’s memoir a month later.

Harry has tried to speak to Charles several times in the past year, only for Charles to ignore him or be icy towards him: “It’s complex, but there’s increasing frustration from some of the wider circle of family members that Charles won’t just fix things for the sake of everyone,” said a royal source.

The Sussexes are still the story in the British media: I’ve repeatedly witnessed up close how Palace aides do their best to muddy the truths the couple shared with the world (be it with misleading briefings to newspapers or, in some cases, lies to inquiring journalists), but the issues they raised—from institutional cruelty to unconscious racial bias—still loom large over the monarchy. None of this was helped by the fact that the Sussexes remain as much of the royal story today as the day they stepped back from their roles. For most royal correspondents, the couple are still the only surefire way to get prominent headlines and online traffic, whether it was the months of “will they, won’t they” stories about the couple attending the coronation or the breathless running commentary about the state of their various business deals in the United States. Instead of completely walking away from the Firm, they’ve unintentionally taken much of the royal spotlight with them to America.

[From Omid Scobie’s Endgame]

“Just tell him what he needs to hear.” Seriously. And I can imagine there are other family members saying similar things as well – as I said, Scobie claims Edward said the same thing to Charles and I would imagine Anne would also feel the same way as her mother. Which leaves the question – is this simply Charles being a terrible chief executive, too stupid to cauterize this years-long bleed? Or is it something else? Is it Charles not knowing how to parent, to be a father? Or is it truly all about what Camilla wants? Camilla played her cards well – she destroyed Diana, she exiled one of Diana’s sons and destroyed Charles’s relationship with his sons. Plus, she got the two brothers to go to war with each other.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.

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118 Responses to “Endgame: QEII told Charles to speak to Harry & ‘just tell him what he needs to hear’”

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  1. Rapunzel says:

    So QE2’s solution is for Charles to just say whatever it takes to appease Harry? Even if he [Charles] doesn’t really mean it? That doesn’t sound like a solution. Harry is better off knowing his father’s real feelings and how he really is. No phony baloney appeasement.

    • Chloe says:

      I echo this sentiment. Just saying what harry wants to hear won’t fix anything. There needs to be a public reckoning and apology. And an institutional overhaul.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      I don’t think it would be appeasing Harry to simply listen to him and Meghan and tell them he understands the pain they have felt over their treatment. That would just acknowledge their pain and be a good beginning to a better relationship going forward. The queen herself may have done this and managed to maintain a good relationship in the process. Eventually, an apology has to happen.

      • Rapunzel says:

        This isn’t untrue. I just think Charles wouldn’t really be listening. I stand by the belief that you don’t just tell folks what they want to hear. You have to mean it.

      • ML says:

        I agree that QE2’s words sound very diplomatic and entirely empty. Listening is important, but I can’t see many instances of KC3 being able to do this—at least he seems incapable of learning and changing his behavior. And just stating something that someone needs to hear if you don’t mean what you say isn’t helpful.

      • ArtFossil says:

        Agree, Brassy Rebel. If only Charles had taken QE2’s advice. It could have been the beginning of rebuilding the relationship and who knows, Charles might even eventually have learned something.

    • As usual another Windsor who doesn’t listen and in this case Horsilla only has his ear. You can’t fix stupid and morally bankrupt.

    • Megan says:

      Words weren’t going to stop the attacks on his wife. Harry wanted action, which something Charles wouldn’t, and probably couldn’t, deliver.

    • Ace says:

      This is how I read it too. At first it seems like a nice sentiment form the Queen, but to me it sounds more as telling him what he wants to hear no matter if they (both Chuck and the Liz) think he’s completely wrong.

      Considering how we’ve heard many times that the Queen avoided family confrontations, it sounds on brand for her to want her son and grandson to make peace but not care if there’s anything actually solved.

    • Shirley says:

      I believe QE2 meant that Charles should listen to his son,be a father now,he wants you to apologize, say sorry.
      Tell him that,don’t beat about the bush, string him along,make promises and not keep it.
      No,ifs and buts,

    • maisie says:

      I read it quite the opposite. that Everyone is telling Charles that he should be the one to make peace with his son-and Charles probably wants to-but Camilla will not allow it.

    • StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

      The Queen wanted peace. At the end of a life, I dont think you care much about pride. You want peace. but looks like charles doesnt have that wisdom… Anybody has a label on the Queen’s caped wool coat? I always loved it.

    • roooth says:

      No way would Chuck have done what his mother wanted. He was just waiting for her to die so he could undo what she had done. Taking back the wedding gift that Liz gave Harry & Meghan was revenge for Liz & Harry having a good relationship. Chuck is a petty, jealous, self-serving ass, and he NEVER would have done what Liz wanted as she was dying soon and he just had to wait to do what he wanted.

      Does anyone really believe Liz gave Chuck permission to make his whore a queen?

  2. Kristen from MA says:

    I wonder about the extent of William’s influence. He may butt heads with his father about other issues, but he could be using his access to stoke resentment. William seems intent on punishing/destroying Harry.

    • swaz says:

      I truly believe that William is at the root of all this 😠 but Charles has never been a family man, he doesn’t care, remember Diana said that. William is well aware of that and is using it to his advantage 😠

      • LRB says:

        Willi may come to regret his attitude. Who will be working royals in 10 years? Camilla will only be rolled out for major functions, she already hates travel and I suspect her health is not that good. Anne is like her mother, but at some stage she will do less. I worry ( well I don’t have sleepless nights… but I wonder) if Edward is unwell…maybe mental rather than physical, but he doesn’t look well. The Queen’s cousins are all getting older… the Kents are all virtually retired. Is Willi going to bring in Zara or the Yorks to do some of the work… as in ‘half in half out’… Zara wouldn’t give up her lucrative deals I don’t think. Willi begins to look silly… if he wants to maintain a Commonwealth and be head of state of multiple countries, those countries need visits don’t they? Willi only seems to want to go Stateside.. I wonder why?

      • Advisor2U says:

        LRB, I don’t understand the need for so much ”family support” to run the monarchy in Brittan. Being a monarch is not a multi-people, but a one person’s job.

        Many monarchies all over the world are run just by the monarch (king/queen), with a supportive spouse to assist in a formal capacity and do some charity work. That’s it. The rest of the support is offered by hired professionals, just like governments do: a PM/President with a cabinet of officials and dignities, diplomats.

        In some cases, in monarchical systems, you’ll find and occasional family member to support the monarch, like the royal houses in the middle east have, but not that many as in the UK.

        The way the monarchy operates in the UK is totally wild; outdated and out of touch. Why the need for 15-20+ unskilled family members with no diplomatic skills, and 4,000+ patronages, to justify the tax-funding of a monarch and his family? What is – in this day and age – the added value of this centuries-long very privileged family, other than upholding a very costly class system topped by one family?

        It is time for the people in the UK to stand up against this family and the waste of their money.

    • the Robinsons group says:

      H&M were always going to be “Disrupters” to that socalled Royal Institution – even if they had stayed. Because H&M are “Doers”. They want to help the people of England be in a better place. Where as KFC3 and the Institution are complacent and sides with a government that is telling struggling Brits, it’s okay to eat spoiled food — it won’t kill you.

      • AC says:

        I agree with above , and have also commented before that I think W is the ring leader of this circus. I know C is a terrible father but I can see W influence C in certain cases.

    • Proud Mary says:

      I agree with you. The Sussex supporter who ran the Henryviii YouTube channel spoke very poignantly about this subject. She said that she believed the Monarchy’s response to Sussexit was made that much harsher because of William’s participation in that so-called Sadgriham summit. I think Charles is afraid of William. Charles helped to create a monster in William by introducing him to Charles and Camilla’s media strategy and media connections. Now William has his own relationship with the press, apart from Charles. I believe that it is William, who has been leaking all the cash-for-access scandal about Charles as part of his strategy to keep Charles from reconciling with Harry. William is a bully who has bought into the notion that he has some special innate power that sets him above his brother. His anger and resentment towards Harry for seeming to rise about his station predates Meghan. You can see it for example, in William calling Harry “Harold”, i.e., Harold II who was vanquished by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. William truly believes that, as part of his preparation for becoming King, he must vanquish Harry. I think he acquired that, in part, from Charles. I can imagine Charles (and perhaps Camilla) telling William that Harry (and Meghan) pose the same threat to Williams popularity, that Diana posed to his. And Charles feeling like he waited too long to nip that in the bud, warned William to learn from his mistake. I also think that there was some bargaining between William and Charles: with Charles agreeing to help William get rid of Harry– cut him off financially, including cutting off his security, and in return, William agreeing to get rid of the Diana Panorama interview, in which Diana declared that Charles was unfit to be King. This is of course not to say that Charles and William are allies in all things. But I believe that when it comes to dealing with Meghan and Harry, Charles has, not only out of fear of William, but also, for his own personal interest, has paid considerable deference to William. For this reason in particular, Harry has to simply move on from Charles.

  3. Jezz says:

    No question Camilla is the rotten apple in all this mess. Harry as much as told us in Spare. And she 100% would have thought it was HiLarIouS to question the colour of the baby’s skin. That’s her kind of humour. Laughing at Indigeous singers, smirking about Black pastors, and postulating on a dark skinned member of court. Bwaa ha ha how droll! UGH.

    • equality says:

      There is a video circulating of H&M’s wedding, claiming that the royals all knew how terrible Meghan was because of the faces many of them were making at the wedding. Cam wasn’t the only smirker.

      • Tessa says:

        Camilla has some nerve smirking considering all. Diana generations ago had a watchful.eye on Camilla during Diana’s wedding to charles.it also says a lot about Charles character to enable Camilla behavior.

      • Swaz says:

        That family is the only one I know that is consistently COPYING someone that they think is so terrible 🤣🤣🤣William wants to be Harry, Kate wants to be Meghan, King Charles launching projects on his 75 birthday-never did this in 75 years 🤣🤣🤣 and on and on and on 🤣🤣🤣

    • Gabby says:

      Not to defend Crapmilla, but she is only one of three rotten apples in the mess. The top rotten apple was QE2. Harry gave her more way more credit for being a human being than she deserved. Chuckles is of course the other one. I will put blame on Willie for a lot of things, but not this particular thing. In this case, the 3 old hags were the co-culprits.

    • LRB says:

      I listened to a programme on the radio about the throat singing ( that Charles and Camilla openly laughed at)… the skill involved is phenomenal and apparently they can make the human voice sound two notes at the same time…one would have thought it a real honour to be able to experience such talent.

  4. Sunshineinfiji says:

    Charles is a dogshit father. He likely runs every decision concerning his family by Camilla because he is still that resentful, trapped 12 year old boy that his father stuck in boarding school .

  5. Brassy Rebel says:

    I never cared much for Elizabeth or any queen, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. This is so painfully obvious. I think Camilla is the one driving all the divisiveness which is why Harry considers her so toxic. But Charles doesn’t have to listen and carry out her orders. At the end of the day, he’s responsible for the whole sorry mess.

    • VADER says:

      Agreed! While Harry and willy were never close, willy actively started throwing h&m under the bus much later. All the initial grievances were with chucky and cowmilla. I believe Camilla set everything up. She turned Willie and chucky against Harry, and suggested willy make a deal with the media.

      • jemmy says:

        @VADER “While Harry and willy were never close, willy actively started throwing H&M under the bus much later.” – I disagree . The machinery started throwing Harry under the bus from his late teens / early twenties. He was painted as the wild one and being funny, he was the butt of jokes… Harry himself said it on several occasions that lies were told against him – ie the Nazi uniform saga – which he wore at the suggestion of W&K, then the drug use which was no totally true but Charles was made to be the loving understanding father , his working on some farm in germnay which was twisted or even much earlier Harry being portrayed as a ladies man to cover up for William
        He probably took these in good faith as he was protected – ie given the respect and recognition as the 3rd in line.

        With Meghan, William probably did it to break the relatuonship as he seems to be the only one who came out clearly to tell Harry that the relationship would not work . All the fire works leaks during their courtship was to “nudge” Harry to end the relationship . When that did not work, then the leaks intensified with the view to force Meghan to go back to the US / destroy the marriage, leaving Harry behind. Their worse nightmare was when children came into the picture – still their game plan was for Meghan to be frustrated out of the marriage probably not minding she took Archie with her. As it is right now, I dont think they want Meghan back , maybe Harry but if he does come back , he will be in a worse position than before as they will ensure that he is redundant and probably / eventually unalived… for the perceived act of “treason/ betrayal “.

        The thing though is that RF/& supporters fail to realise the world around them is changing – We may have Harry 2.0 in the form of George marrying a black woman. What will William / Charles do if that are to happen?

        Someone on twitter said she foresaw 20 years ago that either Harry or William will marry a black woman & was spooked when it happened- she actually thought William would have likely been the person to marry a woman of black extraction. The same person has said that William’s son Gorge will likely marry a black woman. The saga is just starting to unfold .

      • Geegee says:

        I think it was part of her plot to be queen. A united william and Harry could have spoken out against queen camilla, and we can’t have that.

  6. Christina says:

    Charles wouldn’t be the first man to ruin his family by ruling with his “scepter”.

  7. equality says:

    His “inability to convene and command his own family”? He doesn’t need to command anybody. What he needs to do is what the royals claim to do: “listen and learn”. Then do what they think they are above doing: apologize and change behavior. The “just tell him what he needs to hear” advice stinks also if there is no love or change. They need to learn from the other European and Asian royals who can let members be private without attacking them for leaving.

    • Eurydice says:

      He does need to command – he’s the boss. The problem is that he’s a weak, short-sighted. pig-headed narcissist. He’s always been this way and, at age 75, isn’t going to learn anything different. He’s just a bad king and a bad father.

      • equality says:

        He’s not the boss of H&M and, on family matters, things would need to be handled differently. Even bosses benefit from truly listening to employees instead of just commanding, especially when employees are being bullied.

      • Truthiness says:

        Eurydice, bingo. A weak, short sighted, stubborn narcissist. And if you’re raised to believe you are God chosen to be a future monarch, you think you’re wiser than you are. Traits he’s handing down to William.

        Elizabeth commented to Harry that Charles is just going to do what he wants.

      • Gillian ASHBEE says:

        Yup !

    • Eurydice says:

      @equality – He’s not the boss of H&M, but he is of Camilla, William, Kate, other royals, all the palace staff, etc. They take their cues from his behavior. A good employer will listen when an employee is being bullied, but then he’ll make sure that something is done about it.

      • equality says:

        William, doubtless, learned his behavior from Charles. Cam would quite likely do whatever she wanted, but just more sneakily if Charles didn’t approve. And the ones QE wanted controlled is H&M. If she cared about bad behavior coming out of the palace, she wouldn’t have still had employees like AK.

      • Eurydice says:

        @equality – ITA There’s a reason why that family and its minions have a 1,000 year record of bad behavior. Charles has said he wants to do things differently and William says the same thing, but that only means figuring out new ways to keep the monarchy alive. The mistake with controlling Harry was letting him serve in the military as long as he did – and once Meghan came along, it was all over.

  8. sevenblue says:

    I don’t find QE a particularly good person, but one thing you can say, she took care of all her children financially. When Edward and Sophie created scandal after going their own way, she paid all their debts and took them back. You can’t say that about Charles, his fatherhood. He cares more about Camilla’s children than his own. So, I think, Charles relieved they left the firm, he is just annoyed that they didn’t disappear.

    • Tessa says:

      Charles saying he could not afford to support Meghan is loathsome. He has enough to buy Camilla expensive jewelry. I think he wanted Meghan to work to separate her from harry for months at a time and harry would be bullied by will to break up the marriage.

      • Amy Bee says:

        Yeah, Charles didn’t want Harry to marry Meghan.

      • Looseal says:

        “ Charles saying he could not afford to support Meghan is loathsome”

        As the couple want to be half in and half out isn’t Charles’ comment an open invitation to do just that? Also QE2 saying Meghan can work as an actress if desired.

        The current sentiment of all in or nothing contradicts previous statements.

      • notasugarhere says:

        As someone commented yesterday, I think that came from William. He and Keen refused to cut their spending. In fact, Kate essentially doubled her clothing spending in 2017 and 2018, timed to when Meghan and Harry met and got serious immediately. W&K were demanding an even-higher percentage of the 4 million a year and made it clear to Charles they were only going to increase their costs.

        Charles, being afraid of his bitchy firstborn, kowtowed.

  9. Tessa says:

    Charles is a bad father.liking the concept of having heirs but being a bad father in reality
    Camilla came first to the detriment of Diana Meghan and harry. Will came out of this messed up and having anger issues.

  10. Miranda says:

    What I desperately want is for someone to write an HONEST book about the relationship between Charles and Camilla, or a book examining Camilla’s role that doesn’t buy into her half-assed redemption arc. It’s just infuriating to watch as they try to erase DECADES of widely published evidence of her treachery.

    • Ace says:

      Right? Even Endgame goes with the “love of each other lives” bs which is the palace approved storyline.

      • Eurydice says:

        They may very well be the loves of each other’s lives, but that doesn’t mean it’s a beautiful or healthy love

      • Tessa says:

        Charles was involved with many women. If Camilla was truly the love of his life he would have told her they had a future when he first met her.he said to dimbleby he did not want to marry her when he first met her.. Camilla was anxious to marry Parker Bowles not Charles. The duke of Windsor moved heaven and earth to marry Wallis. I read Charles sought legal assistance to see if he could marry Camilla and be.king.before he proposed to her.

  11. S808 says:

    “For most royal correspondents, the couple are still the only surefire way to get prominent headlines and online traffic, whether it was the months of “will they, won’t they” stories about the couple attending the coronation or the breathless running commentary about the state of their various business deals in the United States.”

    I’ll never forget one of the RRs saying that when H&M left that they’ll no longer be reporting on them only to still be doing so 4 years later.

    As for Charles, yeah he f’d this up big time and he still doesn’t understand how much of an ass and a terrible father he looks with his ongoing actions. Or maybe he doesn’t care. That’s probably it tbh.

  12. Shiera_S says:

    How much things would have been different if Charles took the time to listen to H&M… The way I see it, Camilla may have had an influence but the biggest wedge was created but he men in gray. They hated Meghan, certainly despised Harry for wanting his wife to be treated respectfully and they are the ones in charge of ensuring the continuity of the monarchy. I think they steered Charles in a bad direction during the Sandringham meeting and each time after. They were very proud to put in the newspaper that Charles was too busy to see his own son but forgot that it only showed he had no heart for his own family AND that convinced H&M to publicly say their truth as vicious lies were written about them.

    • Tessa says:

      It was not the men in grey it is all on Charles he did not have to listen to Camilla or men in grey

      • Shiera_S says:

        That’s logic to us but when your whole life every decision was made or advised by other people, it’s more complicated to become independent or even simply strike a balance between the family and the family business.

        I’m not excusing Charles but adding what I think is context to his decision process making.

  13. Becks1 says:

    I’m sure the Queen found all of this very frustrating as it just kept going on. We talk about her being an ostrich, but one thing that is clear is that she was able to draw a very clear line between the Firm and the Family. Harry and Meghan didn’t want to be working royals anymore? Fine, she wasn’t going to force them. But they were still part of the family. And Charles doesn’t seem to be able to do that; neither does William. Their familial roles are so intwined with their institutional roles that they’re incapable of separating the two.

    now obviously as Queen, Elizabeth’s institutional role was never fully separated from the family role. But she seemed able to manage the two differently. She didn’t punish her younger children for not being the heir the way Charles punished Harry. She didn’t seem to financially abuse her children because they weren’t next in line to the throne. She provided for them because they were her children.

    And charles cannot seem to do that.

    That picture of H&M with Archie, Doria, QEII and Phillip always makes me sad – now knowing how hard Archie’s pregnancy was for Meghan mentally, but also because – it could have been a picture marking a significant turning point in the British monarchy, welcoming their first nonwhite royal baby, a sign that the royals were diversifying and changing like so many families – and instead it just marks a moment in time before H&M were finally driven out because the royal family did not want to diversify and change.

    • Harper says:

      Can you imagine a scenario where, after his initial anger, William actually settled down and encouraged his father to join him in putting down their weapons where H&M were concerned? A great percentage of mature humans would see the value in making peace, despite their differences. I think that is why the Queen urged CRex to speak to Harry; she was old enough and experienced to know that continued fighting would get them nowhere.

      But instead both Charles and Williams are childish, grudge-holding, trick-playing gaslighters. This has been going on so long I honestly think they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they didn’t have Harry and Meghan as the target for their frustrations. They enjoy it, so why stop?

      • Becks1 says:

        In 2019, as Meghan was suicidal and William was going to the Times about “exiling them to Africa” and letting the press have a field day on Meghan in exchange for silence on Rose Hanbury – imagine if Charles had said to William “knock it the eff off,” a real family meeting had happened where the major nasty briefings stopped (I mean this family is always going to brief against itself, but maybe the nasty stuff stopped) and William went back to cultivating his image as a family man while Harry and Meghan focused on their causes and Kate took care of the school run because she didnt need to be a top CEO*?

        Like this could have played out so much differently and so much better for the leftover royals, and instead, here we are. and part of the issue is that they have spent years convincing their supporters (including the ones who are just Sussex haters) that the Sussexes are manipulative, narcissistic, out to destroy the monarchy, etc. So now they CANT fully reconcile even IF they wanted to because….their supporters would revolt.

        *I couldnt help myself, LOL.

      • Eurydice says:

        One would think that a man in his 70’s would also be old enough and experienced enough – but it seems that Charles’ eternal wait for the throne kept him still thinking like a child.

    • Tila says:

      @Becks1 Great analysis.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      It comes down to the fact that Charles is an abusive person. He abused Harry and then Meghan in various ways. And when they left, he did what abusers do: he punished them in every way he could!

      He never was and never will be able to mend fences because he is an abuser.

      • SweetPeas says:

        @Arthistorian-never was and never will be able to mend fences because he is an abuser.

        This is a perfect description of a very flawed human being. I just hope Harry one day soon come to understand this and realize it was never anything he or his mother did. KC is just that empty soul who’s not capable of loving those he can’t control.

    • Shiera_S says:

      I completely agree with your comment, so much could have been different if the Queen and Prince Philip were younger / lived longer.

    • windyriver says:

      I think back one step to Charles walking Meghan down the aisle, and giving his arm to Doria on the church steps. He got so much positive press that day, and it went nowhere.

      If TQ was more able to distinguish between Firm and Family, maybe it’s because she’d had a sense of actual family life during her first ten years. Never expected to be heir, because her father never expected to be monarch. Even afterwards, her father still called her his “pride”. Charles, meanwhile, was born the heir, and his father was a strong-minded person who, having lived through a very difficult childhood, expected equal toughness from his son. He was only four when his mother, young with two small children, became monarch on her father’s sudden death. She and Philip were often away on long trips. He had the questionable influence of the QM, and later his uncle Mountbatten who, even before rumors of his interest in young boys, had a home life worthy of raised eyebrows.

      Charles was more right about himself than we realized when he said, regarding Diana, “whatever love is”. He’s missing that chip as a father as well, and probably his long-lasting relationship with Camilla is more of a twisted dependency than what’d we call love.

      As far as his treatment of Will and Harry, someone said here recently that the QM made a statement when Will was young that he wasn’t to be reprimanded for things he did. Who knows if having more than two children would have changed anything. In any event, Harry was left to bear the blame when any of Will’s transgressions became public. And Charles, with Camilla’s enthusiastic help, elevated the concept of the invisible contract to a high art in his craving for public admiration. Since Will was off limits, Harry (and later Meghan) became Charles’ primary trading currency.

      If at this point, Charles’ can’t manage himself out of a paper bag, especially with respect to family, it’s not had to see why. But understanding how his frustration and self-interest evolved doesn’t make him a nicer person, absolve him of what he’s done, or erase his part in passing dysfunction along to the next generation(s).

      • Tessa says:

        Diana did not cater to William. There are videos to prove it. They were young then and William stood in a field and would not come into the house. Diana picked up harry and they went to go into the house then will came running. He may have resented.his mother for not treating him more special.

    • BQM says:

      I see the photo and think the two oldest and theoretically most hidebound and traditional members of the family were the only ones to show Meghan and Harry any care, consideration and affection. Thus they are in a lovely and historic photo unlike Charles. They are the ones who kept in regular contact (I still laugh at Harry saying Philip ended zooms by shutting his laptop) and sent gifts. Meghan wrote a lovely note for Philip’s funeral and, had she not been heavily pregnant, I absolutely believe she would’ve been at the funeral. And she looked genuinely grieved at the queen’s funeral.

  14. Becks1 says:

    What? How does camilla = Meghan?

  15. Flowerlake says:

    There seems to be one evil, conniving woman in that family manipilating everyone and it’s not Meghan. It’s not even Kate either.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Flowerlake, oh, I think Cant has done more than we know. I think she winds Wont up, and I really believe that we don’t know everything she did to Meghan.

  16. Tessa says:

    Camilla is not an earls daughter
    She comes from the gentry and her parents were well to do and were in royal circles.

  17. MrsBanjo says:

    What is this word salad? Harry and Meghan have repeatedly talked about how close they were to Elizabeth and Phillip. There’s literally nothing to suggest QEII would tell Charles to air Meghan’s history like that.

    What are you on about? How the hell are you equating Meghan and Camilla?

  18. Amy Bee says:

    Just tell him what he wants to hear was not a real solution either. The problem was a royal system that is abusive and only cares about the heir and monarch. Furthermore, Charles doesn’t believe that he or William did anything wrong to Harry and Meghan.

    • Angelica+Schuyler says:

      You hit right on the crux of the matter. Charles and William believe that because of their place in the hierarchy it is their right to treat others however they want. Apologies are beneath them. They expect Harry and the rest of the family to always take the low in deference to them and by extension their wives. There are so many articles that say Charles is mad about what Harry said about Camzilla, or William is mad about something Harry said about Kate. But Harry is expected to not have any hard feelings about anything said or done to Meg. Harry is supposed to just put the heirs first and take the bullet or fall on the sword for them and the institution without any regard to himself or his own wife and children. How dare he stand up for himself and his own family. We can see this illustrated by the press demand that Harry decry Omid’s book because it doesn’t just kiss the heirs’ butts.

      The Sussexes moving on successfully undermines the whole idea that the heirs are the most important. Financial independence has given the Sussexes the ability to put their own happiness first and not have to sublimate themselves to the heirs as a matter of survival.

      Every action they take to try to break the Sussexes just ends up making them stronger and the heirs are too self centered and short sighted to see that they are the cause because they are too drunk on their own sense of self-importance.

  19. Chantale says:

    I think Charles is a damage soul and he is weak. I think he got bad advice from the nasty lot the mistress, his wife brought into the palace. I do believe he prefers his son Harry to bully boy. Harry is warm and kind, probably very affectionate toward his father that is the reason why he still reaches out and Meghan as well. Unfortunately, he listened to the wrong people thinking cutting their finances and everything else will bring them back into the fold. His biggest mistake EVER! I am going to say this, Charles is a victim and still does not realize the power he has to squash and fix many things. He is a sad man.

    • Roo says:

      Chantale, all of those people in the RF are sad, little people who are emotionally and mentally stunted. They have few, if any, skills relevant to today’s world and little potential to ever improve. Because of their wealth and privilege, however, they are perfectly placed to abuse and manipulate those they deem beneath them. Such a pitiful group.

      • Chantale says:

        Indeed!
        Unfortunately and even sadder, Charles is the better of the four principal actors. I do not want to be melodramatic, Diana is getting her revenge and if Charles does not fix this she will haunt his kingship and more chaos. The mistress wife looks very unhealthy to me, too much smoking, drinking and nastiness will do her in and I hope for the sake of the monarchy she is gone before Charles. She is an awful representation. Every time I see her face, i have to hold my food.

  20. Anonymous says:

    It wouldn’t have been helpful, but that is straight out of Betty’s playbook, which gives more credibility to what Scobie is saying.

  21. SpankFD says:

    Let me try this again.

    I took the phrase “Just tell him what he needs to hear.” far more ominously, as in, QE wanted KC to somehow inform Harry how MM is “bad.” I find this stance of the BM particularly hypocritical because Camilla Parker Bowles and Andrew Parker Bowles were The Sex of 1970s Britain (according to The Crown and contemporary papers’ subtext). They were the chief sexual Players of the British aristocracy. Yes, Camilla was allegedly a sexual dynamo. Charles married a woman with a varied and likely extensive sexual history. Why isn’t that a problem? Because Charles loved her?

    More to the point, why is it a problem that MM was an actress? Would they be confusing Acting with another profession? Or would the royals just be looking for excuses to exclude a black duchess from their ranks?

    Yes, the British aristocracy — who are morons — might actually believe that actress —> slut —> prostitute.

    Modern, educated people have a far more nuanced view of sexuality. Further, they are far more likely to understand that a woman’s sexual history is no one’s business but her own. Just like a man’s is, William.

    I wonder which royal has had sex with the most people? Do they ever hand out any gifts — expensive jewelry, jaunts on safaris, drugs, cars, etc?

    • sevenblue says:

      No offense @SpankFD, but you are making up a deeper meaning to a grandmother saying her son that he needs to fix his relationship with his child even if he doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

      Meghan’s profession became a problem because the tabloid reporters made it a problem. Noone gives a sh*t if a spare prince marries an actress. It is the same thing her getting heat for being a divorcee even though both King and his wife are divorcees. That is the problem, everyone seems to think, if one thing about Meghan’s life was different, they would embrace her. That’s not true. She became a problem because she was too shiny and got too much attention. We all know how jealous Charles gets when other people get attention. Diana herself told us that. If press didn’t care about her, there would be no smear campaigns.

      • SpankFD says:

        @sevenblue You might be right. I think the royal family rationalize their hatred with a variety of racist, sexist, and classist bigotries, but I would agree that it’s all based in jealousy.

        Are there examples where other royal family members have been thrown under the bus to distract from unpleasant scandal from the direct line of succession?

      • sevenblue says:

        “Are there examples where other royal family members have been thrown under the bus to distract from unpleasant scandal from the direct line of succession?”

        @SpankFD, did you read Spare? Harry was the scapegoat for the family, even for Camilla’s son. Diana was different, because she was destroyed due to Charles’s jealousy of the attention she gets. But, I am sure Charles used his brothers to lessen pressure on himself. Harry said Charles’s office always leaked to the reporters about others in the family (Edward, Andrew) to get better press in the past and Harry & Willy made an agreement to never do that to each other. Willy is the one who broke the promise.

  22. @BelizeEmpower says:

    “Or is it truly all about what Camilla wants? Camilla played her cards well – she destroyed Diana, she exiled one of Diana’s sons and destroyed Charles’s relationship with his sons. Plus, she got the two brothers to go to war with each other.” Ding, ding, ding!!!

    The truth of the matter is Charles, William, Camilla and Kate, the hateful four, were opposed to the marriage from the beginning and did everything in their power to dissuade Harry, interrupt/interfere in the relationship, tried to stop the marriage before it happened, but when that didn’t work they immediately shifted gears and set out to disrupt and destroy the marriage to get rid of Meghan and keep Harry. It all backfired on them because Harry defied them and decided to leave with Meghan. Now they’re up Shits Creek without a paddle. Let them eat cake.

  23. Sunday says:

    Charles is a deeply flawed man and his inability to see past his own narcissism and tendency for self-pity certainly doesn’t help, but it’s no easy feat to extinguish a fire in another man’s heart. Ultimately, Charles is powerless to fix this because the core issue still remains – Will feeding Harry and Meghan to the tabloids to hide his own secrets. To address this, Charles would need to bring Will to heel, and I don’t see how he does that at this point.

    The tabloids aren’t just going to say okay sure we won’t run our most lucrative stories anymore and lose millions of dollars, no problem. The royals dug themselves in so deep that now IMO the only chance they have is to throw someone under the bus for the entire Sussexit, and that’s a realllllly short list of candidates. I think they’re hesitant to burn Kate because that comes with its own set of repercussions and comparisons that they’d like to avoid. Personally if I’m Charles I’d find a way to hang this all on Andrew. He’s already disgraced, you can pay him off and say he’s been working against the family this whole time to save himself, you can even tie it to the whole Frogmore thing, the tabloids can go absolutely crazy on him and Fergie and magically the Fab Four are reconciled despite never being photographed together again.

    • Rnot says:

      They can’t hang it on Andrew because Harry and Meghan care about Eugenie too much to go along with that narrative, even by silence. For all his other crimes, H&M aren’t going to let the very same people who fed them to the wolves to do the same thing to Andrew to try to cover it up. That applies to Kate too. Successfully confining the blame to her would require the Sussexes to go along with that explanation, because they WOULD be asked about it.

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Rnot, why do you assume Cant is/was not part of this? I think she’s been as instrumental in the lies to media (along with Ma Mids) as any of the others. I also believe that she has been worse to Meghan behind closed doors than she has been in public. She doesn’t get a pass.

    • Zinnia says:

      Chuck couldn’t even chuck Andrew out of Royal Lodge. Andrew knows things and would spill all the tea. Wasn’t he talking about writing a book before the Royal Lodge eviction was dropped?

  24. Beverley says:

    Camilla wants to destroy everything Diana loved. It’s crucial to her plan to destabilize Diana’s sons’ relationship. Camilla HATES Harry and fears William. She should pray to die before Charles does because William will unleash the full force of his fury on her. And she deserves it.

    I wish I believed in Hell. It would be a cold comfort to know for a certainty that evil people are punished.

  25. DebDowner says:

    Call me naive, but: what a person wants to hear is different than what they need to hear. If this is in fact what TQ said, it’s about putting Harry’s needs first, which is what a parent should do.

  26. lanne says:

    It’s painfully obvious that they never wanted Meghan in the family, but were afraid they would be called racist if they said no to harry, and even more, afraid that harry would leave. So their “answer” was to push her out by any means necessary.

    By supporting his wife, harry proves that he’s a better man than any other in the royal family. When push comes to shove, neither Charles nor William have the courage to do the same–neither would give up royal privilege for something or someone they believed in. Neither has the intelligence or fortitude to succeed outside the royal cage. They need Harry to be a lesser man than both of them, and they can’t stand that he’s a better man than both put together. All of their whining and focusing on Harry diminishes them. I think William senses this but is too stupid to realize it–this is why he’s so obsessed with Harry. That obsession will be his downfall, which is exactly what he deserves.

    The most important and relevant royals live in California

  27. Mary Pester says:

    Charlie is nothing more than a weak snot nosed little boy! He should still be in short bloody trousers. He runs around playing in his many gardens, and when the poor little soul feels tired or bullied he runs home to mummy who whispers in his ears “there, there, it’s all that nasty Harry and Megan’s fault. They are the reason your sad! And he believed it because it was the she bitch saying it!look, Charlie has never had to face anything, even his bloody divorce was managed by his mother and the background boys. He has been told all his life “he’s right and everyone else is wrong! Think about it, look at the hell that broke out over spare, yet in Charlie’s book, he said his father was harsh and hectoring and his mother was cold and emotionally distant. But NOTHING was made of it see, he thought he was golden after that. When Harry stood his ground against him, what did Charlie do, he backed down and let others (ie camzilla and William) fight the fight so Harry didn’t stand a chance, the men in grey working behind the back scenes and camzilla and willy front and centre!! And that’s what’s still happening now, just like when anything gives the rotten Royals bad press, the snot nosed little pillock allows the she bitch he is married to, to brief against his youngest son. They are ALL pathetic.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Mary Pester, I agree with you, but I think Cant has been a part of this and continues to be. She’s done more than we know, because it seems Meghan is afraid of her.

      • Mary Pester says:

        @saucy&sassy, yes your right megsn literally shrank back as keen came towards her as they went to view the flowers! She is the worst kind of person,acts like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but that bitch could burn the sun!

  28. BlueNailsBetty says:

    Wow. That second to last photo of Elizabeth, Philip, and Charles should put to rest any rumor of Harry not being a Windsor. Harry looks so much like Philip and you can really see it in Philips’s eyes, face shape, and mouth.

    • Tessa says:

      It was nasty of Charles not to clamp down on the harry paternity gossip. He knows darn well harry is his. It was also being despicable to diana.he went out of his way to tell dimbleby he could not have fathered Camilla children

    • Grandma Susan says:

      ITA. I never realized until I saw that photo how much Harry resembles Phillip.

  29. notasugarhere says:

    @Kaiser, you’re giving Anne the B!tch far too much credit.

  30. Beverley says:

    QE2 could’ve shut down the media onslaught against Meghan with one edict, but she did nothing. The palaces went out of their way more than once to defend Kate, officially denying reports about her wiglets and Botox. Yet Betty allowed the media to beat up on Meghan, even when it was obvious that she was struggling, even when she was pregnant.

    She may have genuinely loved her grandson, but she was perfectly willing to allow the media attempts to destroy his wife and unborn child.

    Betty gets no grace from me.

    • Lady D says:

      ONE, one f’n word was all that was needed from that useless woman to save Meghan’s sanity. The evil witch couldn’t even do that little for a woman and family member who was suffering horribly.

    • May says:

      @beverley, @ladyd, 💯💯💯💯💯💯

  31. QuiteContrary says:

    A perfect storm of dysfunction has led to all this.
    As @Beverly points out, Camilla wants to erase Diana and so that means urging Charles to take a hard line on Harry, to keep Harry away.
    William is a petty, jealous and emotionally stunted person so he won’t abide Charles making amends with Harry.
    And as @Mary Pester and Sunday point out, Charles is too weak to make his own decisions.
    Add to all this the family’s underlying racism and you’ve got Meghan and Harry, understandably fleeing that pit of vipers.
    I’m no fan of the late queen, but I think QEII was pragmatic and saw M&H’s value to the Firm, and also felt enough genuine affection to want to keep them in the family. Charles isn’t that canny — and he is too selfish to give up any attention he thinks he alone is owed.

  32. vpd4 says:

    It’s both of them. Billy & Charlie. Both have no backbone. Camilla is involved in this too. All of them are slime.

  33. Gabby says:

    So the late queen told Chuckes to just tell Harry what he wants to hear? Not to be sincere, or to or to achieve real understanding. Just placate Harry so he can continue to be of use to the firm. Tell me again why this woman was so revered?

    I would love to know which current royals are frustrated about this.

  34. Jugebair says:

    Unrelated to the story but I do still love that pic of the Queen and Philip looking at baby Archie. The happiness on their faces is genuine.

    • sparrow says:

      I know. It’s lovely. I think the queen was very fond of Harry. It’s all so sad. Sorry, you’ve got me in a slushy mood here, writing Christmas cards to family all over the world and too far away at times.

  35. Anonymous says:

    “…Camilla played her cards well – she destroyed Diana, she exiled one of Diana’s sons and destroyed Charles’s relationship with his sons. Plus, she got the two brothers to go to war with each other.”

    This is absolutely true. Which is why I really want someone to write her definitive story, with the following title.:

    CAMILLA PARKER-BOWLES:
    The Dirty Queen & Her Long Dirty Game

  36. Plums says:

    So I dropped in at B&N on my lunch break and looked for Endgame, and when I say this book was buried, I am not understating at all, lol. Nowhere to be found among the non-fiction new releases or anywhere noticeable, but a couple copies tucked away among the shelf space reserved for BRF rota dreck in the World History section.

  37. MissDuchessmadam says:

    Harry is not wayward that family is…. But yes to everything else! Lol

  38. Advisor2U says:

    To respond on a comment above.

    LRB, I don’t understand the need in the British system, for so much ”family support” to run the monarchy. Being a monarch is not a multi-people, but a one person’s job.

    Many monarchies all around the world are run just by the monarch (king/queen), with a supportive spouse to assist in a formal capacity and do some charity work. That’s it. The rest of the support is offered by hired professionals, just like governments do: a PM/President with a cabinet of professionals: officials, dignities, diplomats, advisors, etc.

    In some cases in the monarchical systems, you’ll find some/the occasional family member(s) to support the monarch, like the royal houses in the middle east have, but not that many as in the UK.

    The way the monarchy operates in the UK is totally wild; outdated and out of touch. Why the need for 15-20+ unskilled family members with no diplomatic skills and poor education, and 4,000+ patronages to justify the tax-funding of the monarch and their family? What is – in this day and age – the added value of this centuries-long very privileged family, other than upholding a very costly class system topped by that one family?

    It’s time for the people in the UK to stand up against this family and the waste of their money. They should come down ASAP.

  39. Anonymous says:

    The problem here is that Charles has a wife who is not a good influence to him. Not even gonna call her queen. She was a mistress who became his wife., period. That woman probably encourages Charles bad behavior to alienate his sons/ own family to keep Charles to herself and her own family. Classic abusive person, alienate and isolate.

  40. Lily says:

    My mother says she wants us to listen when she means she wants us to do something. I have told my mother I will listen to her but listening in no way implies that I’m going to agree with her and do what she wants. My mother hates it when I demand she use her words accurately. So I don’t think the Sussex family friend is doing the Sussexes any favors saying that they want to be heard. The Sussexes want an apology and more importantly for the way Harry’s family operates to change. That is very different than listening.

  41. Lily says:

    Even HG Tudor, who spends most of his time busting Meghan’s chops, says Charles is a narcissist, so good luck to Harry and Meghan getting Charles to admit he made any mistakes.

  42. Robin Samuels says:

    The Queen did not tell Charles what Harry WANTS to hear; she told him what Harry NEEDS to hear, and that is the TRUTH. What is the truth? We may never know. If Charles tells Harry the truth, he would have to admit his complicity in their pain and suffering, but Harry already knows the role he and William played.
    Escaping that institution saved Meghan, Harry, and Archie’s life. They were living in a den of vipers.

  43. blunt talker says:

    All this noise can be put into one phrase-the laws were put in place centuries ago to protect the person sitting on the throne and his heir apparent-naturally they don’t see anything to apologize for-the laws allow them to treat people any way they want as long as they are sitting on that throne-any other family members below the throne sitters has take what they can get and do as they are told whether it is wrong or right-if anyone can show me how the royal family don’t have racist thoughts and feelings when they don’t allow persons of color to work in positions to understand the wider world which is not predominately white-a lot mistakes could have been avoided-I think Omid is trying to say the monarchy needs to adjust and learn how to co-exist with the modern world-put on blinders won’t help and playing stupid won’t help-if they don’t learn to correct and adjust their thinking and actions this monarchy will slowly go down hill and crash-I have always wondered why they allowed Harry to marry Meghan-I read that Harry sensed some sort of pushback on his relationship with Meghan from the beginning-he told certain family members if they denied his chose of wife in Meghan-he would quit the his royal role and move to where she was-at that time she was living and working in Canada.

  44. fabulous says:

    I didn’t read it like that

    Just tell him what he wants (needs) to hear…

    S O R R Y

    The Queen looks so happy seeing Archie – her face is full of joy.

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  46. Macky says:

    Charles wants to keep the upper hand. Well he thought he had the upper hand. Who could’ve guessed Meghan had all that money and connections squirreled away!!!! They was supposed to go to frogmore as soon as they got ratted out in Canada. But Meg is resource and tungsten.

    I would’ve loved to see the look on chucks face when he learned they bought a house in Montecito and got a deal.