As an American, I believe that people within powerful institutions should have an adversarial relationship with the media. Journalists don’t work in PR – there should be a healthy give-and-take, with the fourth estate acting as a check on power. For years, I assumed that’s how it was between the Windsors and the British media. But no, the relationship is not adversarial, it’s symbiotic, with both powerful institutions feeding on each other, working towards the same goals 99% of the time. This is why royal reporters act as if they’re part of the monarchy – they are, they’re part of the same convoluted ecosystem. This is what Prince Harry is trying to rip apart, and he’s doing so by suing the pants off of several media outlets and by exposing the institution’s private and public lies. It’s not just the Daily Mail soiling itself with dread about Harry’s revelations, it’s the monarchy as a whole. Because they’re the same, the monarchy and the media. They are one, especially in King Charles’s royal court. Speaking of, the Daily Beast has an exclusive royal reaction to Harry’s witness statement in court.
A friend of King Charles has told The Daily Beast that Prince Harry has “torpedoed any remaining bridges” with his family by accusing the monarchy of “conditioning” him and cynically “withholding information” about phone hacking from him so that he wouldn’t “open a can of worms” by appearing in court. Of why Charles, along with Prince William, turned down the opportunity to see Harry this week, the friend of the king told The Daily Beast, “The trust is gone.”
A friend of the king told The Daily Beast: “Harry has torpedoed any remaining bridges with this statement. It is just six weeks until the coronation and the last thing Charles needs.”
Asked if they were surprised Charles had declined to meet Harry during his trip to the U.K., with his office briefing that he was “too busy” to do so, the friend said: “The trust is gone and I think that’s been made quite clear by the king refusing to meet him.”
Prince William, who also passed up on the opportunity to see his brother this week, is unlikely to be impressed by Harry’s efforts on behalf of the nation. One friend told The Daily Beast: “William is over it at this stage. If this was about his vendetta with the Mail that would be one thing. But Harry keeps doing everything in his power to try and embarrass the family. How can you have a relationship with someone who is doing that?”
Harry’s claims that the institution of monarchy essentially worked against him were met with weary dismay by palace insiders. A former Buckingham Palace staffer who worked with Charles, William and Harry during their tenure told The Daily Beast: “All anyone at the palace ever tries to do is look after the principals. And yes, that might include encouraging them not to take legal action on a regular basis as it rarely turns out well for anyone. The royal family could spend their entire lives suing everybody if they wanted. It’s so unfair to suggest those people, most of whom spend their whole lives working very hard for the family, for very little reward or recognition, were conspiring against Harry.”
The former staffer said: “Harry and William shared an office and staff until 2019. The entire phone hacking investigation was actually triggered after details of a phone call between William and (TV journalist) Tom Bradby ended up in the News of the World. Harry knew about it.”
“Harry knew about it” – William’s hacked phone call stuff happened when Harry was in his early 20s, I’m pretty sure… meaning he was at Sandhurst and focused on his military career. Plus, it’s abundantly clear that royal staff did keep things from Harry, in addition to briefing against him. Not to mention the royal lawyers consistently convincing him that nothing could be done, that he shouldn’t sue. He didn’t realize until 2019 that he could actually sue the papers for hacking him and putting trackers on Chelsy’s car and all of that.
As for Charles and William’s broken trust… you would think that Harry had attacked their loved ones? Harry is suing the Mail, not Buckingham Palace. As I said, a rotten, vile ecosystem in which William is being led around by his Tory handlers who are in bed (literally) with the Mail. Charles and Camilla are fully owned and operated by the Mail and the entire British tabloid-system at this point too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.
