An unnamed source told The Daily Beast that Prince Charles does not get along with his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, largely because of the fact the way that Charles acted toward their mother, the late Princess Diana.
But Clarence House quickly slapped back at the claims in a statement to Express UK , calling them “complete fiction.”
The original claims read, “They are very different people and they just don’t get on. It’s as simple as that. They rarely see each other outside of official business.”
It cited their differences over Princess Diana, further stating that Charles is not happy with how frequently his sons speak up about her death and the effect it has had on them over the years. The princes also commissioned a documentary that was created in 2017 to honor her memory 20 years after her death, something Charles was not a part of.
Charles’ affair with his now-wife Camilla is also well-documented, which would arguably give the boys ammunition to dislike their father for the way their mother was treated during her marriage.
According to the source, their relationship is “strained,” and they rarely see one another outside of official business.
But over the years, Prince William and Prince Harry have regularly complemented their father in public speeches at events.
During that same 2017 interview discussing their mother, they also heaped praise on Charles for how he handled their mother’s death and becoming a single parent, with Harry, in particular, commenting on his father having to break the news to him and William.
“One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died. How you deal with that I don’t know. But, you know, he was there for us. He was the one out of two left and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But, you know, he was going through the same grieving process as well.”
Charles also stepped in for his new daughter-in-law Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in May when she married Prince Harry after her father Thomas Markle had to pull out of the wedding, walking her down the aisle in his stead.
While speaking for another interview, the princes called their father “incredibly hardworking,” and William described his father as having a “wicked sense of humor.”
Harry also gave a lovely speech in honor of his father’s 70th birthday celebrations.
“Who has not come away from a meeting with my father, their head spinning with a dozen new ideas which he wants to get underway urgently, having met a group of people or read something that has fired his imagination and started the flow of ideas? His enthusiasm and energy are truly infectious; it has certainly inspired William and I to get involved in issues we care passionately about and to do whatever we can to make a difference. In fact, many of the issues William and I now work on are subjects we were introduced to by our father growing up.”
