The Queen Consort did not tell the press about her first meeting with Prince William, royal insiders have insisted, after The Duke of Sussex wrote in his memoirs she leaked the story to media.
In his new autobiography Spare, Prince Harry makes a series of bombshell revelations about the Royal Family, including the claim that Camilla gave ‘pinpoint accurate details’ to the press about the first time she met the heir.
‘None [of the details] had come from Willy, of course. They could only have been leaked by the one other person present,’ Harry wrote, insinuating Camilla spilled the beans to journalists.
But royal insiders today told The Telegraph that it was in fact Camilla’s private secretary who mistakenly shared the details, and later resigned.
The Duke of Sussex (right) wrote in his memoirs that Camilla (left) leaked the story of her first meeting with Prince William to the media
(L-R) Prince William, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend the unveiling of a memorial of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, on the Mall on February 24, 2009 in London, England
Royal sources said Camilla’s personal aide Amanda MacManus (pictured in 1998) was responsible for the leak of details about the now Queen Consort’s first meeting with William
Harry’s autobiography Spare is set for release on January 10 but a copy has been leaked ahead of the publication date
A source told The Telegraph that Harry ‘creates a very crisp narrative which in parts is a conflation of different versions of stories,’ before going on to claim that Camilla’s personal aide Amanda MacManus was responsible for the leak of details about the 1998 meeting.
Camilla Parker Bowles as she was then known allegedly told MacManus, who later told her husband who worked in the media.
A newspaper then obtained the details from a former colleague of MacManus’ husband, the source insisted.
Camilla was said to be ‘furious’ when she discovered the leak and MacManus resigned.
The aide, who was later re-hired by Camilla, said at the time: ‘I am so very sorry for the distress this has caused. Above all, my shame is that I have failed those who demand loyalty and trust, particularly my remarkable employer Mrs Parker Bowles.
‘I am very sorry to be leaving but as the person responsible for this unhappy chain of events, I cannot with honour remain in this position.’
Britain’s Prince William, right, and Prince Harry, left, after the marriage of their father Britain’s Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, at the Guildhall in Windsor, England, after their civil wedding ceremony, on April 9, 2005
Prince Charles, Princess Camilla and Prince Harry watch poppies dropped from a Lancaster bombe as she stands next to Prince Andrew on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the celebrations marking the end of World War II in London 10 July 2005
Charles and Camilla married in 2005. Harry claims that William wished he had said something to prevent it
In another excerpt from Spare, Prince Harry accused Camilla of plotting to wed Charles and take the Crown.
In an extraordinary passage, the Duke of Sussex writes: ‘Shortly after our private meetings with her, she began to develop her long-term strategy, a campaign directed at marriage and with time, the Crown (with the blessing of our father, we supposed).
The Duke also claims that he and his brother William ‘begged’ the then-Prince of Wales not to remarry after Princess Diana’s death, fearing that she would be their ‘wicked stepmother’.
Charles had tried to win over his sons before asking the public to accept Camilla, the book claims. Harry then astonishingly says that meeting the future Queen Consort for the first time was like an ‘injection’. He later says that ultimately he and William approved of Camilla.
He writes: ‘I remember wondering… if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the wicked stepmothers in the stories’.
In his book, which has been released in Spain, Harry also calls William his ‘archenemy’ and his ‘polar opposite’, and described the moment he was told by his father Charles that their mother Diana had been killed in a car crash in Paris, MailOnline can reveal.
Harry accuses his older brother of being the aggressor during Megxit, claiming their relationship has become so strained and damaged that the Prince of Wales would only ‘scowl’ at him.