Charles’s Diana ‘agony’ to heated exchanges with William: 6 talking points in new biography about the King
Royal biographer Robert Jobson’s book promises to reveal the ‘man behind the crown’
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Your support makes all the difference.A new biography about King Charles III, authored by royal biographer Robert Jobson, is set to be released on Thursday 13 April.
The book, titled Our King Charles III: The Man and the Monarch Revealed, charts the new monarch’s trajectory from his birth to his ascension to the throne, which took place after the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year.
According to his publisher, Jobson set out to reveal “the real man behind the crown” and examine Charles’s “passions, purpose and motivations” as the UK gears up for the coronation on 6 May.
The author “considers the life of the man and the monarch, reflecting on how his values and beliefs will shape him as he takes on this monumental role.
It also contains new claims about members of the royal family and about Charles’s personal feelings on how certain events in his life have unfolded.
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These are the biggest claims Jobson has made in his forthcoming biography:
Prince Harry ‘shocked’ royals by insisting Meghan accompany him to Balmoral after the Queen died
On 8 September, the day Queen Elizabeth died and Charles ascended the throne, the Duke of Sussex notably travelled to Balmoral separately from his brother, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the royal family.
Prince Harry took a private jet to Scotland, whilse Prince William drove the Duke of York and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh from Aberdeen airport.
In an interview ahead of the publication of his memoir Spare, Harry claimed he received a “horrible reaction” from the royal family when he was reunited with them after Elizabeth’s death.
Jobson claimed that Harry chose to travel to Balmoral alone after a disagreement over his wife, Meghan Markle’s attendance. The author wrote that Harry “insisted” Meghan accompany him to Balmoral, but Charles “told him she could not come”.
A royal insider was quoted as saying: “It did not go down well with the family, they were all shocked by his behaviour.”
Queen insisted on meeting Liz Truss days before she died against doctor’s advice
Only two days before her passing, the late Queen invited the newly appointed prime minister Liz Truss to Balmoral to form a government.
According to Jobson, the monarch did so against the advice of her doctors, who worried about the Queen due to her frailty.
However, close sources were quoted as saying that “nothing was going to stop her” from carrying out the official meetings with Truss and then-outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson.
The Queen is said to have insisted that it was her job to formally install Truss as prime minister in the traditional “kissing hands” ceremony.
However, the meetings “took an awful lot out of her”. Installing Truss was one of her last acts as Queen.
Queen Mother disapproved of Prince Philip’s ‘alpha male parenting style’
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was reportedly not a fan of the Duke of Edinburgh’s preferred parenting style, particularly when it came to Charles.
Jobson described the late Prince Philip as having an “alpha male parenting style” that was “authoritarian” and strict towards Charles, who was known for having a “sensitive nature”.
The Queen Mother is said to have “frowned upon his brashness and the way he treated Charles”.
“Philip would set very strict rules and expect Charles to meet incredibly high standards,” Jobson wrote. “It was a way to exert control over his behaviour or activities.
“There was little warmth towards his son and, growing up, Charles often felt lonely and isolated.”
Charles ‘agonised’ over his ‘mistake’ of not calling off wedding to Diana
It was claimed in Jobson’s book that the King “agonised” over the fact he did not call off his wedding to Diana, despite being reportedly unsure about whether they were compatible.
The author wrote that Charles “believes he let down not only the monarchy, but himself and Diana too, through his inability to call off the wedding”.
He claimed that the then-Prince of Wales aired his reluctance about the marriage to his close circle of friends and said: “I desperately wanted to get out of the wedding in 1981, when during the engagement I discovered just how awful the prospects were, having had no chance whatsoever to get to know Diana beforehand.”
Diana was also said to be having second thoughts, as she reportedly told her sisters Lady Jane and Sarah that she believed Charles was still in love with Camilla Parker-Bowles, who was married to Andrew Parker-Bowles at the time.
But Charles has “long accepted” that his reputation in relation to his doomed marriage to Diana would be forever “distorted”, Jobson wrote.
Charles ‘stopped taking Harry’s calls’ after Megxit
Jobson also claimed that King Charles “stopped taking” Prince Harry’s calls after he stepped back from his royal duties in 2020.
Jobson wrote that Harry regularly phoned his grandmother from California until he “kept trying to air his grievances”.
“In the end, [the late Queen] asked him to speak directly to his father instead,” he claimed.
The author wrote that a source told him: “Her Majesty found Prince Harry’s calls quite difficult and wearisome. She didn’t want to interfere in the father/son relationship and would urge him to speak to his father.”
He alleged that Charles eventually “stopped taking Harry’s calls after his son swore at him and repeatedly asked for funds”.
“When the Queen asked Charles why he hadn’t given in, he told her that he wasn’t a bank,” Jobson wrote.
Jobson claimed that the Queen “felt let down” by Harry’s decision to step back from his royal duties, and that she saw the departure of the Sussexes “as a missed opportunity”.
The Queen, however, apparently hoped “her grandson would find peace and happiness” in his new life.
William ‘known to speak forcefully’ to Charles
The author alleged in his book that William had “been known so speak forcefully to his father” King Charles.
“One exchange between them was so heated that it left Charles shaken,” he claimed.
Jobson went on to claim that both of Charles’s son’s tempers are “reminiscent of their mother Diana’s, which Charles had struggled to cope with during their marriage.”
Instead of a “line being drawn under it”, Charle’s relationship with his sons has apparently “deteriorated further”.
Jobson added that “both” of Charles’s sons had “challenged him” on occasion.
Our King Charles III: The Man and the Monarch Revealed is available to buy at Amazon, WHSmith and Hive.