‘Harry was so, so wrong in his book. I saw that Charles was as loving to those boys as Diana’, expert reveals
Prince Harry was "so wrong" to say that King Charles was never made for single parenthood, a royal expert has claimed.
In his controversial memoir Spare, which was released in January last year, the Duke of Sussex, 39, sent shock waves across the nation when he criticised King Charles over intimacy and communication issues growing up.
Speaking of his father following the tragic passing of the late Princess Diana, Harry penned: "He’d always given an air of not being quite ready for parenthood: the responsibilities, the patience, the time.
"Even he, though a proud man, would have admitted as much.
"But single-parenthood? Pa was never made for that. To be fair, he tried."
However, speaking to royal editor Matt Wilkinson for The Sun's show Royal Exclusive, royal reporter Charles Rae says that Harry was "so wrong" to paint such a picture of his father.
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"This is why one of the things Harry said in his book Spare about his father was so so wrong," he claims.
"I watched the then Prince with his children and he was as loving to those boys as was Diana.
"Diana was much more extrovert."
I watched the then Prince with his children and he was as loving to those boys as was Diana
Charles Rae
He then goes on to recall one particular occasion when a young Prince Harry and Prince William had arrived on the Royal Britannia.
"Diana and Charles had just finished a job...Diana walks up the gangplank plank, Charles is very polite, he stands there and says 'hello' to the captain, first officer and cook.
"Diana ignores them all and runs practically down the gangplank with her arms wide open and the boys rushed up to her - and that's the picture that made the newspapers all over the world."
He adds: "Poor old Charles is left looking like a lemon as he was in India when he didn't take her to the Taj Mahal and left her sitting alone there while he was addressing a business meeting 500 miles away.
"He just didn't get those sort of things right."
Charles, who got to meet Prince Harry and William often when he was working, goes on to say how "never in a month of Sundays" could he have predicted the pair would fall out - adding that the boys themselves were always "very pleasant."
"I was there the day William passed his driving test, which was great great fun," he says.
"And so we got to see them on special occasions and they were all reasonably friendly and would always say 'hello.'"
The explosive revelations in Harry's book Spare include:
- Prince Harry claimed his brother William 'attacked' him in a row over Meghan Markle
- Harry called his therapist instead of Meg after the confrontation with his brother
- Charles pleaded with Harry and William not to 'make his final years a misery'
- The Duke of Sussex revealed the nicknames he uses with William
- Harry claimed William and Kate Middleton encouraged him to wear the infamous Nazi uniform
- The duke said he does want to go to King Charles' coronation, a trailer for his ITV interview has revealed
- The bombshell book accidentally went on sale early in Spain – and we got our hands on one of the first copies
- Meanwhile, seven times Harry was welcomed by the Royals have been revealed
Recalling when they were both in Canada, shortly after Diana passed away, he continues: "It was like The Beatles had arrived.
"The boys were walking up to an event and the screams, it was like The Beatles - it was just pop star stuff.
"I was behind them and Harry kept saying to William, 'raise your hand again, raise your hand again and see what happens'…and of course all these girls where trying to rush forward.
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"And they were really really close - and this is what makes it so sad that they're so far apart.
"When William becomes King I always believed Harry would be one of his top advisers - that's right out the window now."
