A friend of Prince Charles has laid into Harry and Meghan, as royal insiders scramble to come to terms with the couple’s explosive Oprah interview.
The tell-all included a string of shocking allegations, including that an unnamed royal questioned their son Archie’s skin colour, that the palace refused to help Meghan after she experienced mental health problems and suicidal thoughts – and that Prince Charles had stopped taking Harry’s calls, and had cut him off financially.
But it didn’t take long for holes to emerge in the Duke and Duchess’ story about money in particular, with a “well-placed source” telling The Telegraph Charles was “fed up with the constant calls from Harry for more money”.
“He ploughed a lot into the wedding and the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage (the couple’s Windsor home) and did his utmost to make them feel financially supported but when they said they were upping sticks, they asked for even more,” the source said.
“If he was less inclined to take calls, it might be because he didn’t want to be treated like a cash dispenser. I think a lot of parents will be able to identify with that.”
After much media speculation, Kensington Palace confirms Prince Harry is dating Meghan in a statement criticising both mainstream coverage of his girlfriend and the “outright sexism and racism of social media trolls”.
While the official response to the interview has so far been characteristically measured, an unnamed friend of Prince Charles has hit back forcefully, telling The Sunday Times Prince Harry’s money claims didn’t add up.
“Harry said his father financially ‘cut him off’. What f***ing hypocrisy,” the source told the publication.
“When Harry and Meghan left last year, they wanted to become ‘financially independent’.”
Meanwhile, the biggest question of all has begun to emerge – what Harry and Meghan actually hoped to achieve by their unprecedented Oprah move, which has quickly become one of the biggest scandals to rock the royal family in modern history.
‘VERGING ON TREASONOUS’
The Times article points out that the timing of the interview also couldn’t be worse, with the Queen’s 95th birthday only a month away, 99-year-old Prince Philip enduring a lengthy hospital stay after undergoing a procedure on his heart, and a renewed republican push among some Commonwealth nations in full swing.
“The question nobody seems able to answer is what are the Sussexes trying to achieve with this?” a palace source told The Times.
“We don’t know what they want. If you think the Queen is great, then why are you trying to trash everything she and the family stands for?”
Others labelled the act as “verging on treasonous” and “an incredible act of disloyalty”.
