King Charles is reportedly furious after Prince Harry referred to three courtiers with “derogatory” nicknames in his memoir, a royal expert has said. In his best-selling work, Harry calls the three private secretaries The Bee, The Fly and The Wasp.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, writes that he had spent his life dealing with scores of courtiers, but then dealt with three.
He adds: “[A]ll middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold, Machiavellian manoeuvres.”
Royal expert, Robert Jobson, who wrote King Charles: The Man, The Monarch and the Future of Britain, said: “The connotation using the bee, wasp and the fly suggests these people are kind of pest-like, flying around the room, literally trying to say they’re derogatory in that respect. Anyone who knows would realise straight away who they are.”
Mr Jobson told the Independent: “They’re public servants they can’t answer back. It’s unfair to them. They’re not in the position to, they’re serving the crown. This is what they have to do, that’s the role they have to play so to criticise them in really derogatory terms and say they need to be swatted like flies is deeply insulting.”
Kate Skipper, COO at Waterstones, told the BBC: “It’s the fastest, non-fiction title of all time so it’s really beyond just best-seller level.
“Sales from the first couple of days have put it in the top 10 for the whole of last year. It’s a huge seller.”
According to the publisher, the English language edition of Spare sold more than 1,430,000 units in all formats and editions in the United States, Canada and the UK on January 10 when copies first hit the shelves.
Speaking of the record sales, president and publisher of the Random House Group, Gina Centrello, said: “While many books by public figures can be fairly categorized as ‘celebrity memoir,’ Spare is not that.
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“Vulnerable and heartfelt, brave and intimate, Spare is the story of someone we may have thought we already knew, but now we can truly come to understand Prince Harry through his own words.
“Looking at these extraordinary first day sales, readers clearly agree, Spare is a book that demands to be read, and it is a book we are proud to publish.”
Meanwhile, the King is set to make his first public engagement since Harry’s bombshell memoir hit the shops.
Charles will travel to Aberdeenshire today (January 12) to visit the Aboyne and Mid-Deeside Community Shed to tour its new facilities and meet local hardship support groups.
During the King’s engagement, he is expected to be greeted by Lord Lieutenant Sandy Manson before being given a tour of the Community Shed’s ground floor.
Charles is set to watch craft skills in action, including wood and stone carving, and meet the men who gather there weekly.
He is also due to meet representatives from other charities and voluntary groups, including the Inverurie-based Aberdeenshire North Foodbank, Gordon Rural Action and Young at Heart Deeside.
US-based royal watcher Hilary Fordwich has said Charles has been left “anxious and sad” by Harry’s explosive claims over the last few days and wants reconciliation with his younger son.
One of Harry’s main complaints relates to a claim members of the Royal Family have been leaking negative stories about him and his wife Meghan Markle to the British press.
However, Ms Fordwich pointed out to CNN’s Amara Walker there was no proof this had actually happened.
She explained: “If you look at everything that’s come out with regard to the book, Netflix, everything, have we heard one word formally from the Palace?
“No, and there actually hasn’t been anything that anybody can quote that’s first-hand that they’ve said. All we’re doing is witnessing what Prince Harry is saying, and he’s saying all these things.
“It is unfortunately rather one-sided. One thing I will say is that what we don’t hear publicly but that is being said, and you can really see it on their faces, is that Charles is on the outside coping very well, but anxious and sad.”
