Ingrid Seward is still promoting her latest royal book, My Mother and I. The “my mother” in the title is Queen Elizabeth II and “I” is King Charles. It’s very odd. Even weirder is that, judging solely from Seward’s promotional interviews, the book is more about Charles and his sons, not Charles and his mother. Prince Harry’s Spare really shook up the royalists’ fever-dream books, especially since Harry wrote at length about how much his father means to him. There were so many moments in Spare where Harry’s appreciation and love for Charles just leapt off the page. Charles still apparently refuses to read Spare, and I can only imagine that Seward was authorized to write this pro-Charles drivel and revisionist history. Some highlights from Seward’s interview with Fox News:
Harry & Charles were close: “Prince Harry and King Charles were very, very close. They got on incredibly well. I think Charles probably regrets that he wasn’t strict with Harry and [his older son] William. He went on with [Princess] Diana’s freestyle of bringing up children. Diana allowed them to do, more or less, what they wanted, which was very fashionable in those days. You let children just get on with things. I think Charles probably regrets that he wasn’t a bit stricter, because it might’ve given both boys a few more boundaries.… Children all need boundaries, and I don’t think they had too many.”
On Harry’s escape to California: “I don’t think that the king would worry about Harry living halfway across the world, because it is not that difficult to get from LA to London, as we know. But I think what’s sad for him is that he doesn’t see his grandchildren and that Harry has been such a disruptive force to the whole royal family. That doesn’t stop Charles [from] loving him. But I think he’s very upset by Harry’s behavior and especially upset by Harry’s remarks about his wife, about Camilla … Charles just has to be there with open arms. Otherwise, it’s just going to make things much, much worse. And I’m sure he wishes that William and Harry were on better terms, but there’s nothing he can do about it. It’s between them. But he did say, ‘Please boys, don’t make my last years miserable,’ which is exactly what they have done.”
On Diana’s death: “I think Charles was in shock, in enormous shock, and was probably … trembling himself. So what he did was just sort of patted Harry on the shoulder, which is what you might do when you are in shock. It’s quite hard to suddenly let emotions go and hug someone. . . . You are quite mechanical. So I completely understood why Charles was like that, but obviously Harry held it against him.”
“So I completely understood why Charles was like that, but obviously Harry held it against him.” The first fifty pages of Spare are heart-wrenching not because Charles didn’t hug his 12-year-old son when telling him that his mother had died. Spare is heart-wrenching because Harry describes being left alone for hours to process his mother’s death, and describes how no one would just come and sit with him at any point and tell him that it would be okay, or talk about grief or what have you. The profound neglect of this 12-year-old child was the story. Harry had to tell himself that it would be okay and he created a years-long magical-thinking belief system that his mother wasn’t really dead.
As for Charles’s potential regrets… like, one son moved to a different country, and the other son is a 41-year-old man-child who throws violent tantrums. Maybe stricter parenting would have changed some of that, but who even knows. As Harry wrote in Spare, it didn’t seem like Charles had any idea how to be a father. And from what we’ve seen of him for decades, his priority was always Camilla, not his sons.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 14: Prince William, Prince of Wales, King Charles III and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex walk behind the coffin during the procession for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II on September 14, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin is taken in procession on a Gun Carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall where she will lay in state until the early morning of her funeral. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 722661798, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jeff J Mitchell / Avalon 
The body of Queen Elizabeth II is carried to the Palace of Westminster, London followed by His Majesty King Charles III his sons Prince William and Prince Harry as well as Prince Edward, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew, September 14 2022. Thousands have turned out to watch the spectacleafter which the former monarch will Lie in State in Westminster Hall. There will be a short service upon the Coffin’s arrival at Westminster Hall, which will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.,Image: 722721858, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Tony Kershaw / SWNS / Avalon 
King Charles III And The Queen Consort Visit Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales,Image: 723320377, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jules Annan / Avalon
Prince William, Prince Harry and King Charles III The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Service, Westminster Abbey, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724167805, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon 
Prince Harry, King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, and Princess Anne The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Gun Carriage Procession, Wellington Roundabout, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724224245, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock / Avalon 
(Strictly for editorial use only and available until December 12th 2018) In this handout image provided by Clarence House, HRH Prince Charles Prince of Wales poses for an official portrait to mark his 70th Birthday in the gardens of Clarence House, with Their Royal Highnesses Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Willliam Duke of Cambridge, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Duchess of Sussex, on September 5, 2018 in London, England.
USA Rights Only – London, UK -20190404- Celebrities attend the global premiere of Netflix’s Our Planet, held at the Natural History Museum. -PICTURED: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Sir David Attenborough, Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex -PHOTO by: Anwar Hussein/PA Images/INSTARimages.com -42159452.jpg This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded Featuring: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Sir David Attenborough, Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 04 Apr 2019 Credit: Anwar Hussein/PA Images/INSTARimages.com **USA Rights Only** 
Ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall. Featuring: King Charless III, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 14 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only** 
State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcW5lZ4Fxe9KerpqqlJS4qrrGmJqhmaKhsrSr0Z6eq52kqKy1tMCtlqGdj6yutLrTmJiYq6SntqTAvp%2BYraCVp6y4tdOhlqGZoqfGoMPIpaOimZ1k