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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Jennifer Newton

King Charles shows 'weak leadership' by staying silent on Harry and Meghan, says author

King Charles' leadership skills have been left "looking weak" by the Firm's silence on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a royal biographer has said.

Harry's memoir Spare, which hit shelves last week, includes claims that Prince William physically attacked him and that his father the King put his own interests above Harry’s.

He also levelled criticism against his sister-in-law Kate and in a US broadcast promoting the book, branded Queen Consort Camilla the "villain" and "dangerous", accusing her of rehabilitating her image at the expense of his.

Meanwhile last month in their Netflix docuseries, it was claimed by Harry that Kensington Palace “lied to protect my brother” when it issued a statement denying a story William had bullied him out of the royal family - and that he was shouted at during the infamous Sandringham Summit.

King Charles has yet to speak out on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's claims (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

So far both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not commented publicly on the Netflix series or the book - despite Harry saying he wanted accountability from his relatives for the way he and Meghan were treated before quitting as working royals.

And according to Omid Scobie, one of the authors behind the biography Finding Freedom, the royals, especially the King have had plenty of time to resolve issues with the couple since their bombshell Oprah Winfrey chat but have "buried their head in the sand".

King Charles on an engagement in Scotland last week (PA)
Harry and Meghan together at a gala in New York last month (AFP via Getty Images)

Writing in his column for Yahoo, he said: "That makes it well over two years King Charles has had to stop the unresolved grievances between 'The Firm' and his son from escalating. Instead, he chose to bury his head in the sand.

"Charles may have done a solid job of continuing the Queen’s busy schedule of daily duties, but his inability to convene and command his own family has left his leadership skills looking weak."

Charles with Harry and Meghan as well as William and Kate in 2018 (UK Press via Getty Images)

And he adds that it reminds him of how the royals previously ignored the late Princess Diana in the 1990s when her marriage to Charles broke down.

He says: "That stiff upper lip in public may have briefly lived up to their brand of keeping calm and carrying on, but the long-term outcome of their cruel silence still haunts them to this day. Twenty years from now I have a feeling we will be saying the same thing about Spare."

Omid's comments come as it was revealed yesterday that Harry's controversial memoir has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998.

According to Nielsen BookData, which collects and provides information on distribution and sales measurement of books, Harry’s headline-grabbing autobiography Spare sold 467,183 copies in its first week.

The data released by Nielsen shows that the book has broken the previous record of 210,506 set by the first Pinch Of Nom cookbook – written by Kay Allinson – in 2019.

Spare, which was ghostwritten by JR Moehringer, is the only non-fiction book to make it into the top 10 fastest-selling books in the UK since records began.

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