Prince Harry launched a blistering attack on King Charles during a BBC interview which aired on Friday, saying the monarch ‘won’t speak to me’ and that he doesn’t know ‘how much longer’ there was left for his father, who is battling cancer.
But the King seemed to undermine his son’s comments by taking the salute for half an hour to honour troops at the Victory in Europe Day Parade in London on Monday.
During a special live episode of Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English said: ‘We have actually seen the King for half an hour take the salute for veterans because he believes very strongly that he needs to show them respect. It’s not them showing him respect.
‘When you consider he is going through weekly cancer treatment at the same time as doing all of this, he’s got a full week of engagements coming up, I think it really shows the mark of the man.’
Rebecca was joined in front of Buckingham Palace by the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor Richard Eden and host Jo Elvin, who brought up Harry’s ‘strange’ comment about the King’s health.
‘I think it’s particularly distasteful actually,’ Rebecca said. ‘I was with the King at Windsor Castle on Thursday night and he was doing a tree planting with the King and Queen of Sweden.
‘I have never heard so much animated small talk about trees and planting in my life.
‘The King was even mansplaining to his wife Queen Camilla about how to water the tree and I could see her eyes going, “I do know how to water a tree, darling.”
In an interview with the BBC, Prince Harry said he didn’t know ‘how much longer’ his father had left
King Charles takes the salute as he commemorates Victory of Europe Day in London
‘He was on really good form,’ she continued. ‘I caught his eye at one point and he waggled his eyebrows and smiled like, “Isn’t it fun we’re here again?”‘
‘I remember walking out and thinking, he looks on really good form – how happy he looks, how animated he is. And then for the next day, his son to do that to him, I thought was pretty distasteful.’
Adding his own commentary, Richard said: ‘I have had several people contact me to say that Harry should be prosecuted for treason.’
The Treason Act of 1352 made it a crime to ‘compass the death of the sovereign’ – but Harry is unlikely to be hauled off to the Tower of London as Charles has been relatively transparent about his battle with the disease.
‘Even so,’ Richard continued. ‘The way he sort of put it, “I don’t know how long he has left”, it really struck the opposite tone to what we have heard from the Palace which is one of positivity about his treatment.
‘It did seem deeply unpleasant, I would say.’
Rebecca was also quick to point out the ‘irony’ of Harry’s comments. She said: ‘ It is not because he is speculating about his health, it is because he has no idea.
‘He is so kept out of the loop now because he does things like that and goes on TV and gives interview and talks about very sensitive subjects like that that he can’t be trusted with that sort of information.’
Richard Eden (left), Rebecca English (centre) and host Jo Elvin (right) in a live episode of Palace Confidential
The monarch stood for half an hour as the armed forces and veterans’ parade passed him by
The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English said: ‘We have actually seen the King for half an hour take the salute for veterans because he believes very strongly that he needs to show them respect’
Despite his ‘weekly cancer treatment’, the King took the salute to show his respect
Jo, who hosts the hit YouTube show went on to question whether the Royal Family were concerned about Harry’s bombshell interview overshadowing the true meaning of VE Day.
‘I know what the Palace want today is to really focus on what we are trying to commemorate here in the UK which is the end of a very damaging war in Europe that saw a lot of loss of lives and thank the veterans that are still alive and those that have sadly passed away and laid down their lives or died ever since,’ Rebecca said.
‘It’s not amazing timing, is it?’ Jo asked. ‘To be talking about your personal risk and all that when we are commemorating what people went though in WWII?’
‘People are here to remember sacrifice,’ Richard said. ‘So the idea of more whinging from across the Atlantic will not go down very well at this particular time.’
After taking the salute throughout the procession, King Charles was joined on the Buckingham Palace balcony by his wife Camilla to watch the Red Arrows tear through the grey skies of London.
Working members of the Royal Family and their children also stood by his side including the Princess Royal, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and three of his grandchildren George, Charlotte and Louis.
Describing the scene, Richard said the royals will be keen to show a ‘sense of togetherness, defiance almost’ in the wake of Prince Harry’s revelatory interview.
‘They certainly will be keen to show that they’re together as a family and that they are carrying on as normal and they wont be pushed off course by various salvos from Montecito,’ he said.
Rebecca said the Palace wanted to focus on commemorating veterans rather than Harry’s ‘distasteful’ comments
Richard added that the royals will be keen to show a ‘sense of togetherness, defiance almost’ in the wake of Prince Harry’s revelatory interview
Members of the Royal Family join King Charles on the Buckingham Palace balcony on Monday
King Charles and his wife Camilla wave to the crowds below
The Wales Family watch as the Red Arrows tear through the grey skies of London
From left to right: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne, Princess Royal and King Charles III
The Royals wave to the crowds before heading inside Buckingham Palace to enjoy a tea party with the veterans
‘When Harry and Meghan quit royal duties and left Britain, the idea was that they would come back for events such as this.
‘Harry with his military service saw this as integral to who he was so he will be disappointed not to be here, and the same applies to Prince Andrew.’
For more fascinating insights from the Mail’s team of unrivalled experts, watch the latest episode of Palace Confidential in full now and subscribe to the Daily Mail Royals YouTube channel.
