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King Charles has been pictured smiling as he arrives for a service at St Lawrence’s Church in Castle Rising, Norfolk, earlier today, hours before Prince Harry appears in an interview on ITV to publicise his explosive new book.
The king’s appearance comes after Harry launched a series of allegations against the Royal Family, including that his brother Prince William physically attacked him in a row during which Harry claims Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was labelled “rude” and “abrasive”.
READ MORE: Prince Harry’s memoir has made him a ‘punchline’ claims royal expert
Buckingham Palace has so far declined to comment on any of the claims made by the Sussexes’ in their Netflix documentary series or Harry’s memoir, Spare, which officially goes on sale on Tuesday. Excerpts from the ghost-written work have appeared in the press after copies went on sale in Spain by mistake.
King Charles, who was dressed in a shirt and tie with a dinosaur pattern, was greeted by well-wishers during an impromptu walkabout outside St. Lawrence’s Church. The monarch beamed as he mingled with a crowd of people who had gathered to see His Royal Highness.
Condemning the “sheer outrageousness of the claims and the malign nature of the memoir”, revealed King Charles’ options should he decide the “strategy of silence” is unsustainable.
Read the full analysis here.
Charles seemingly appeared to have brushed off any distress caused by the Duke of Sussex’s claims and revelations, which included details of when his father broke the news of the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. At one point during His Majesty’s appearance on Sunday (January 8) he was seen laughing along with a member of the public.
The king’s appearance comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the Royal Family as an institution to be “proud” of, despite the string of revelations from Prince Harry.
Asked whether the public can still have faith in the institution, Mr Sunak told the BBC: “I think the public, like me, have enormous regard for the Royal Family, they’re deeply proud of them.
“I certainly am, it’s one of the things I’m most proud of when I think about what it is to be British.
“When I get to go around the world and champion Britain as an amazing country with so many things that we can be proud of, our institutions including the royal family are one of those.”
Asked if the royals have been damaged by Harry’s allegations, Mr Sunak said: “In general I wouldn’t get into talking about the Royal Family but it’s something that I’m proud of and I think the country is proud of.
“We saw that last year very movingly multiple times and I’m confident we’ll see it this year with King Charles’s coronation, which will be another fantastic occasion for the country to come together and celebrate something that’s special about Britain.”
In a clip from Harry’s ITV interview, the Duke says he only cried once after Diana’s death. He also speaks of the guilt he felt when walking among the crowds which had gathered outside Kensington Palace in the wake of his mother’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
He tells presenter Tom Bradby: “Everyone knows where they were and what they were doing the night my mother died.
“I cried once, at the burial, and you know I go into detail about how strange it was and how actually there was some guilt that I felt, and I think William felt as well, by walking around the outside of Kensington Palace.”
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Colonel Tim Collins, known for a pre-battle speech he made in Iraq, was one of many distinguished personnel to criticise the Duke’s conduct, accusing him of turning against the military – his “other family”.
Earlier in the week Colonel Collins called the revelations in the book “a tragic money-making scam”.
In his controversial memoir, Harry wrote that flying six missions during his second tour of duty on the front line in 2012 to 2013 resulted in “the taking of human lives”, of which he was neither proud nor ashamed.
Supporters of the Windsors have rallied to the Royal Family since the Duke’s revelations and claims were made. A friend of King Charles’s said the Duke of Sussex’s disclosures in this new book are the sort that usually “come from B-list celebrities”.
Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, who interviewed Charles in 1994 when the then Prince of Wales admitted having an affair, said he was “perplexed” by Harry’s decision to publish a book.
Mr Dimbleby, 78, told the BBC he imagines the King, as Harry’s father, is “extremely pained” and “very frustrated” by the situation and “would be very anxious to bring it to an end”.
Of the book, Mr Dimbleby said: “I’m concerned incidentally that everyone uses the word ‘revelations’. Yes, there are obviously revelations about how he lost his virginity, taking drugs and how many people he feels he might have shot down in Afghanistan from his Apache, but those are the kinds of revelations in part that you would expect, I suppose, from a kind of B-list celebrity.
“Much more significant are not what you would call revelations but allegations – complaints, the anger and pain of what he is saying. His assertion that this is his side because so far there has only been one side. It seems to me that I have not heard the other side at all because the other side is always silent.”
Meanwhile, friends of the Prince of Wales have said William will remain dignified and loyal in the face of his brother’s allegations and will not retaliate.
A source told the Sunday Times: “William is a sitting duck because Harry knows he isn’t going to retaliate. How many shots can you take at a sitting duck? It’s cruel, cowardly and so sad for William to keep taking the punches. He’s keeping quiet for the good of his family and the country.”
The same friend adds that William is “burning” on the inside. Another friend told the same publication William is thinking strategically, as he follows the example of his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He said: “We know how closely he followed his grandmother’s example, and the institutional response may win the day over the personal. But he is staunchly protective of his own family and he’s not just going to roll over.”
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