A series of bombshells from a new royal book by Robert Hardman, set to be released later this week, have already sent shockwaves through the UK – here we round up some of the biggest claims.
The new royal book has sent shockwaves through the UK before it is even released thanks to a number of bombshell claims.
‘Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story’ is the upcoming biography by commentator Robert Hardman. It details how King Charles came to power following the Queen’s death on September 8, 2022, aged 96.
Excerpts of the book have been released by the Daily Mail ahead of its publication on Thursday (January 18). Here, we round up five of its biggest claims so far.
A member of the late monarch’s staff said Her Majesty was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they wouldn’t have selected the name had she not given her blessing, the Daily Star previously reported. The Sussexes reportedly attempted to “co-opt” the Firm into “propping up” their version of events but were “rebuffed.”
Lilibet was the moniker given to the Queen when she was a young child as she struggled to pronounce the letters of her name. Only her parents, her sister Princess Margaret, Prince Philip and a handful close friends used the affectionate nickname.
Hardman has also revealed Charles wasn’t with his mother when he first learned of her death.
Instead, the monarch had left her bedside in Balmoral to pick mushrooms and was sitting behind the wheel of his car when his phone rang. His most senior aide took the call as Charles pulled over, and it was then he was first addressed as “Your Majesty.”
It is believed Charles went to forage for fungus in a bid to “clear his head” after spending an hour by his mother’s side just before she died.
Harry isn’t thought to feature heavily in the new release, but it does delve into the Duke of Sussex’s absence at his grandmother’s bedside the day she died. Harry was in the UK with wife Meghan Markle on a rare visit from Montecito when his dad called him to warn him of Her Majesty’s ailing health.
In his memoir, Spare, Harry described how he then texted Prince William to ask about travel arrangements but received no reply from his brother. “Clearly, Prince William did not regard this as the appropriate moment for the intensely difficult conversation he needed to have with his brother,” Hardman wrote.
He said the Firm were still reeling from the Sussexes’ Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021. Quoting a source, Hardman added: “Some of the family were probably ready to give him a piece of their mind.”
The Queen’s final moments were “very peaceful” and she wasn’t “aware of anything”, according to a memo released in the book.
Sir Edward Young, Her Majesty’s private secretary, was at Balmoral when she passed away. He wrote of her death: “Very peaceful. In her sleep. Slipped away. Old age. She wouldn’t have been aware of anything. No pain.”
Harry came under fire for a comment William reportedly considered the “lowest of the low.”
In his Netflix series Harry & Meghan, the Duke said: “I think for so many people in the family, especially obviously the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with.”
A friend of the Firm thought it was clear the Prince was talking about William and Kate. They said: “On top of all the other breaches of trust, here was Harry making a blatant attack on Catherine. For William, this was the lowest of the low.”
