Prince Harry “Hurt” Queen Camilla After He Labeled Her a “Villain” and “Dangerous”

“Of course it bothers her.”

Camilla, Queen Consort
(Image credit: Getty)
Rachel Burchfield
By
published

In addition to interfacing with his father, King Charles, at the upcoming Coronation on May 6, Prince Harry will likely come face-to-face with his stepmother, Queen Camilla, who a close friend reveals was “hurt” by Harry’s portrayal of her in Spare as a “villain” and “dangerous,” The Sun reports.

Harry said that he and brother Prince William begged their father not to marry Camilla, which he ultimately did in 2005. Harry also alleged that Camilla leaked stories about them to the press, ultimately sacrificing Harry to help boost her own reputation.

“I have complex feelings about gaining a stepparent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar,” Harry wrote. He wrote of meeting Camilla—who is referred to as the “Other Woman” in Spare—that it was like an “injection”: “Close your eyes and you won’t even feel it.” He continued “I remember wondering…if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the evil stepmothers in the stories.”

Lady Lansdowne, a close friend of Camilla’s who is also godmother to Camilla’s daughter Laura Lopes, said Camilla was upset by her portrayal in Spare.

“Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts,” she said. “But she doesn’t let it get to her. Her philosophy is always ‘Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down—least said, soonest mended.’”

She also added that Camilla was vilified in the 1990s before marrying Charles, which didn’t help her relationship with William and Harry.

An aide also told The Sunday Times that, of Camilla's reaction, “It was not stamping of feet or gnashing of teeth. It was much more of an eye-roll response.”

Those in Camilla’s close circle say she “never in a million years” thought she would be Queen and was never “that bothered” by the title.

May 6 will be the first time it is known that Camilla and Harry have seen one another face-to-face since Spare’s publication in January. 

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more. 

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