A royal source reportedly said: “Charles is extremely focused on his public image and there have been times Harry has felt that has taken precedence over everything else.” The claims, which were made in a new biography about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle entitled Finding Freedom, were branded “complete nonsense” and “wholly untrue”. Royal sources also dismissed claims from one of the authors, Omid Scobie, that Charles has a “hot and cold” relationship with his sons Prince William and Harry.
Mr Scobie also alleged last week that Charles felt the need for a great relationship with the press, and that he refused to publicly support Meghan Markle’s lawsuit as a result.
The royal expert said that while Charles privately supported Meghan’s decision to sue Associated Newspapers, he felt he could not be seen to publicly support it.
The Duchess of Sussex is suing the publisher over a letter she wrote to her father being published in the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, which she claims breached her privacy and copyright.
Associated Newspapers is fighting the case, and recent court filings from the case have proved explosive.
READ MORE: Meghan Markle exposed: Unbelievable claim about Royal Family etiquette
Royal insiders have hit back at claims Prince Charles is obsessed with his personal image (Image: GETTY)
Finding Freedom co-author Omid Scobie (Image: SKY NEWS)
Meanwhile, Charles’ team are apparently “upset” at the notion that Charles only looks out for himself and does not care about his relationship with William and Harry, according to the Daily Mirror.
The claims that Charles is obsessed with his image were “categorically denied by multiple palace sources”, who also rubbished rumours of a relationship breakdown between Charles and his sons.
Mr Scobie went on to claim that Charles’ 70th birthday photograph featuring the Prince of Wales, Camilla, the Cambridges and Sussexes had been a “nightmare” due to family tensions.
Palace insiders insisted this was “poppycock”.
Palace insiders rubbished claims Charles’ relationship with William and Harry is “hot and cold” (Image: GETTY)
Mr Scobie spoke about the alleged relationship breakdown between Charles and his sons in an interview with Loose Women host Kate Thornton on subscription service True Royalty TV.
He said it was difficult because Charles was “not just their father, he is also the future King and their boss ‒ he’s the purse keeper.”
He added: “What is interesting, and I found time and time again, his sympathy for the couple was often there but he was too afraid to voice it or take it any further.
“He quietly supported Harry and Meghan’s decision to sue the Mail on Sunday over the letter ‒ but did he publicly support them? No.”
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior royals at the end of March (Image: GETTY)
Pod Save the Queen is hosted by Ann Gripper and features Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers.
Myers, who got the scoop on Charles’ rebuttal to the claims, said: “One of the things that I’ve revealed over the last 24 hours, speaking to multiple sources ‒ and we took a week to actually bed down into this because we wanted to be absolutely sure ‒ because the book was talking about the ‘hot and cold’ relationships between the boys William and Harry and Prince Charles, that Prince Charles was almost labeled obsessed with his own personal image, that he needed to have a great relationship with the press…
“That one of the authors Omid Scobie had said this week that Charles privately supported Harry and Meghan’s decision to sue the Mail on Sunday and Associated Newspapers, but therefore couldn’t be seen to be publicly supporting them because he was more concerned with his relationship with the press and his public image.
“Now, after speaking to multiple sources on this it has been absolutely categorically denied and I think that’s very very interesting, the fact that he has rubbished these rumours of a relationship breakdown with his sons William and Harry.
“I think, certainly, the people I was speaking to were saying they don’t recognise this truth, that potentially they’ve had frosty relationships in the past, but realistically their relationships are very very good at the moment ‒ and perhaps better than ever now that William’s been able to have a very close relationship with his father throughout coronavirus.
“Obviously Charles was quite ill then, they were coming together to make sure the Royal Family were front and centre in the Zoom world, Harry has been making regular calls to his dad telling him about his moves ‒ he was obviously very very concerned with him when he was ill.
“And people are calling this ‘complete nonsense’ and ‘poppycock’.
“That’s a word that you probably dont hear every day.
“Very retro, and it sort of tells you that people in Charles’ camp have been upset, I would say, at this notion that Charles is only in it for himself, he doesn’t really care about his relationship with the boys and that is certainty not a reality that people close to Charles recognise.”
In this way, Prince Charles’ team have firmly contradicted these claims made in the new book about Harry and Meghan.
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