Photo: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
King Charles IIIandQueen Camillawere seen together in public for the first time following the global release ofPrince Harry’s groundbreaking memoir,Spare.
The King, 74, and Queen Consort, 75, drove together to Crathie Kirk nearBalmoral Castleon Sunday. Craithe Kirk is the British royal family’s go-to church while in Scotland, and Charles was seen behind the wheel of an Audi on the way there.
The King and Queen Consort’s relationship is a prominent theme inSpare.In the sweeping text, published Jan. 10, Prince Harry revealed that he andPrince Williamasked their fathernot to marry Camilla, whom Charles had anon-again, off-again relationshipwith since the 1970s. The romance overlapped with both of their marriages to other people — Camilla to Andrew Parker Bowles, and Charles toPrincess Diana.
PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
In the book, the Duke of Sussex, 38, likened his first meeting with Camilla, who he described as “the other woman,” to “getting an injection,” and said they probably spoke about a shared passion for horses.
“I recall wondering, right before the tea, if she’d be mean to me. If she’d be like all the wicked stepmothers in the storybooks. But she wasn’t. Like Willy, I did feel a real gratitude for that,” Harry wrote.
The book jacket of Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’.PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
Though the initial introductions went well and the princes wanted their father to be happy, Harry said that he and his brother begged Charles not to marry then-Camilla Parker Bowles.
“You don’t need to remarry, we pleaded. A wedding would cause controversy. It would incite the press. It would make the whole country, the whole world, talk about Mummy, compare Mummy and Camilla, and nobody wanted that. Least of all Camilla,” he wrote.
Charles and Camilla went on to wed in April 2005, and Camilla received the title of Duchess of Cornwall following their union. AfterQueen Elizabethdied, Charles became King Charles III andbestowed the title of Queen Consortupon his wife.
King Charles and Queen Camilla on their wedding day.Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage
Harry also accused his stepmother of leaking private conversations and information to the media to improve her reputation.
“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,” he said in an interview with Anderson Cooper for60 Minutes. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street.”
Reflecting on what inspired him to put pen to paper,Prince Harrytells PEOPLE that he wroteSpareas part of his “mental health journey.”
Jenna Jones
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“I don’t want to tell anyone what to think of it and that includes my family,” Harry tells PEOPLE. “This book and its truths are in many ways a continuation of my own mental health journey. It’s a raw account of my life — the good, the bad and everything in between.”
“My hope has been to turn my pain into purpose, so if sharing my experience makes a positive difference in someone’s life, well, I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that!” he added.
source: people.com
