Revealed: The scathing words Prince Charles uttered when Harry was born because he 'wanted a girl'
It is no secret that King Charles has a strained relationship with his youngest son.
After quitting frontline royal duties and moving his young family to California in 2020, the Duke of Sussex, 40, has been left in the dark when it comes to his father's cancer battle, only learning of his recent hospital visit on March 27 through media reports, according to People Magazine.
And when Harry flew across the pond in early April to attend a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London - a mere 2.5 miles from Buckingham Palace - he did not meet Charles.
But the well-documented rift between father and son may go back even further than royal watchers realise.
According to Diana herself, Charles was desperate to have two children - one boy and one girl.
'I knew Harry was going to be a boy because I saw on the scan,' she explained to Andrew Morton for his bestselling book Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words.
'Charles always wanted a girl. He wanted two children, and he wanted a girl. I knew Harry was a boy, and I didn't tell him.'
So when Diana gave birth to their second son Harry in the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital on September 15, 1984, Charles could barely hide his disappointment.
'First comment was: "Oh God, it's a boy," second comment: "And he's even got red hair,"' Diana recounted to her trusted biographer Morton.
In his own bombshell memoir Spare, Prince Harry said he was 21 the first time he heard the story of 'what Pa allegedly said to Mummy the day of my birth: "Wonderful! Now you've given me an Heir and a Spare - my work is done."
'A joke. Presumably,' Harry penned. 'On the other hand, minutes after delivering this bit of high comedy, Pa was said to have gone off to meet his girlfriend. So. Many a true word spoken in jest.'
Outside the hospital, Prince Charles appeared to hide his true feelings and told the waiting journalists: 'He's wonderful. Absolutely marvellous.'
It is no wonder the Diana would go on to tell friends that 'spiritually' their marriage 'ended the day Prince Harry was born', according to Morton.
Charles told his official biographer Jonathan Dimbleby that he picked things back up with Camilla in 1986. Meanwhile it is alleged Diana's affair with army captain James Hewitt started around the same time.
The royal couple, who had separate bedrooms at their homes for years stopped sharing the same sleeping quarters during an official visit to Portugal in 1987.
The next few years saw Charles and Diana plagued with rumours of marital problems, culminating in the blistering tell-all of the collapse of their marriage as published by Morton in 1992.
The Princess of Wales had secretly contributed to the book by providing Morton with audio recordings which would later be included in a 2017 ITV documentary.
Diana claims in the recordings that Charles's disappointment at having a second boy rather than a girl persevered until Prince Harry's christening on December 21, 1984.
After the ceremony at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the future king allegedly told Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd: 'We're so disappointed, we thought it would be a girl.'
Frances then 'snapped his head off' and told him he should 'realise you are lucky to have a child', Diana added.
The doomed royal couple announced their separation just months after the publication of Morton's book in 1992 and finalised their divorce in August 1996.
Elsewhere in Morton's explosive biography, Diana reveals that the birth of her first son William - the heir - came with its own set of issues.
The Princess of Wales told Morton she had to choose a date to be induced that fit around Charles's busy polo schedule.
'When we had William, we had to find a date in the diary that suited Charles and his polo,' she said.
'William had to be induced because I couldn't handle the press pressure any longer, it was becoming unbearable. It was as if everyone was monitoring every day for me.'
Princess Diana added: 'Anyway, the boy arrived, great excitement.
'Thrilled, everyone absolutely high as a kite – we had found a date where Charles could get off his polo pony for me to give birth.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
17 minutes ago
- Telegraph
There's no better way of spending a family evening than Gifford's Circus
Celebrating its 25th anniversary yet seeming to have been a fixture in the circus landscape for aeons, the old-world charm of the Cotswolds-based Giffords Circus offers an antidote to everything that's miserable about the UK at the moment. The sight of Giffords' big-top, with attendant gypsy caravans – as if spirited from the pages of Dickens but serving lots of good grub and drink too – is itself enchanting. And the bucolic vision of its late founder Nell Gifford of like-minded artists pitching up on village greens is honoured by the picturesque stop-offs. But the visual delight is maximised by the 1950s America-themed show itself, which, with Cal McCrystal directing, has the aura of a fully-fledged theatre production. Projected imagery of rippling water bathes the ring-floor to help conjure a dreamlike resort inspired by Atlantic City. There's neon signage for Sal's Motel, a soda bar booth, palm trees, and a bandstand. The retro music, performed live, emits a sunshine blast of nostalgia. An opening bout of beach-ball, for instance, is conducted to the happy-clappy sound of doo-wop hit Lollipop, a grinning acrobatic troupe from Ethiopia casually juggling clubs and stepping in time to the tunes. This isn't one for those craving a lot of spectacular death-defying daring – no one is flying from a trapeze, being shot from a cannon or whizzing at speed on motorbikes. Much entertainment is provided by irrepressible resident buffoon Tweedy. Cast as the motel bellboy, he kicks things off with inspired ineptitude involving a deck-chair, and continually tries to sabotage the cheesy variety magician (Maxi), his yearning for ice-cream climaxing in a drenching melée. The animal contribution is also lo-fi and reassuringly genteel: a brazenly bribed Shetland pony and an eager Patterjack are the cutest mascots. It's all very English, with a put-on American accent. Yet while homespun, it still reaches for the stars – and takes risks. The young Garcia brothers (Antonio and Connor) elicit awe with their lithe, gravity-defying handstands, spinning headstands and Charles Atlas physiques. Their parents, Pablo and Vikki provide tongue-in-cheek jeopardy, dangling from a renegade vintage air-plane. Spanish beefcake Randy Forgione Vega whirls high in the air, wielding hand-straps and old-school machismo. But for elegance, grace and a sensuousness that defines the show's judicious mix of flamboyance, flesh and family-friendly fare, there's no beating Daniela Muñoz Landestoy from Cuba and Noémi Novakovics who hails from Hungary. The pair ascend to the sound of Gershwin's Summertime (blissfully sung by Nell O'Hara) and hang suspended and twirling using just their hair for support (ouch!). It's all over in a flash, yet you intuit the long dedication and sense of personal destiny behind it. We must treasure these folk – and their art-form. An art-form perpetuated with toil, sweat and thrilling bravura by Giffords. Tours to Sept 28; tickets: giffordscircus
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Step By Step star Christine Lakin, 46, rose to fame as a child actress in the '90s... see her now
Christine Lakin has come a long way since breaking out in Hollywood in the early 1990s. The actress, now 46, got her big break as a main cast member on the sitcom Step By Step, which she starred on for 160 episodes over seven seasons. She played Alicia 'Al' Lambert, the daughter of Patrick Duffy's character Frank, who is getting used to his new marriage to Suzanne Somers ' character Carol. Although critics never paid much attention to Step By Step, it was popular with viewers for several seasons, though ratings began to flag by the show's sixth season. For its seventh and final season, it moved from ABC to CBS, though that turmoil only exacerbated the exodus of viewers, and the show was canceled for good in June 1998. Now, more than two decades after the show that gave her her big break went off the air, takes a look at what Christine looks like now. The film and television actress was spotted out in Los Angeles this week when she attended her son Baylor's Little League game. Christine was dressed in a sporty white tank top that highlighted her toned arms, and she paired it with acid wash jeans and brown Birkenstock sandals. She opted for minimal makeup and covered up with aviator sunglasses and a blue denim-style LA Dodgers baseball cap. Christine carried a bag with her son's equipment, including his baseball bat, and she also brought along a fan for the sweltering late-spring day. Despite being decades away from the role she's best known for, she still looked shockingly youthful. In 2014, she tied the knot with the actor Brandon Breault. In 2016, they welcomed their first child, daughter Georgia James, nine, and in late 2018 she gave birth to their son Baylor B., six. Christine managed to make a successful transition from being a child star to an adult actor after her first series ended, and even though she's never appeared in any film or show as successful as Step By Step, she has continued to be a prolific actor and has even expanded into directing in recent years. After wrapping on Step By Step, Christine — who described herself as a 'recovering child actor' in an interview with Voyage LA last year, became an in-demand guest star on shows including 7th Heaven, 3rd Rock From The Sun and the Touched By An Angel spinoff Promised Land. Christine was dressed in a sporty white tank top that highlighted her toned arms, and she paired it with acid wash jeans, brown Birkenstocks, aviator sunglasses and a blue denim-style LA Dodgers baseball cap. She opted for minimal makeup As the 2000s rolled around, she appeared in episodes of Boston Public, the original Touched By An Angel series, the cult teen mystery-drama Veronica Mars, CSI and Bones. Her next series to get picked up was the CW's Valentine in 2008, but the series only lasted eight episodes. Although she mostly appeared in low-budget films throughout the 2000s, she had a surprising connection to Paris Hilton's attempt to launch an acting career when she starred opposite the heiress in The Hottie And The Nottie (as the Nottie). It took extreme makeup and prosthetics to cover up Christine's natural beauty, though she eventually gets to show off her real visage after a 'makeover.' The film was panned by critics and earned the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for Paris, as well as three other Razzies. The Hottie And The Nottie was also a failure at the box office, grossing only $1.6 million against a relatively modest budget of $9 million. She rounded out the decade with roles in Disney's Race To Witch Mountain — which starred Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Carla Gugino and Ciarán Hinds — and the all-star ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day. A year later, she reunited with director Garry Marshall for a small part in his follow-up ensemble rom-com, New Year's Eve. As the 2010s started up, Christine began a successful run as the voice of Joyce Kinney, as well as multiple miscellaneous characters, on the long-running animated series Family Guy. She continued guest starring on shows like NCIS, CSI: NY and Modern Family, and she had multi-episode runs on Melissa & Joey and the Cartoon Network series Clarence. Her film work in the 2010s was less prolific, but she again played a small part for Marshall in his rom-com Mother's Day, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis, among many others, and she also returned to the Veronica Mars universe with a role in the sequel film from 2014. Christine has also established herself as a television director begin in 2012, and she got some of her most high-profile directing gigs beginning in 2018 on The Goldbergs. She went on to direct 12 episodes of the series through 2023, along with three episodes of its spinoff series Schooled. More recently, she helmed an episode of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. While speaking to Voyage LA last year, she explained her shift to working more behind the camera. 'I have always been interested in the production of television and the behind-the-scenes action that goes on with live and scripted production. Being a self-starter and creating my own lane with projects was something born out of necessity in a competitive town like Hollywood, but also appealed to my creative brain to constantly try things and bring folks together to create something fun and unique. She added that 'saying yes to opportunities that sometimes scared me, that didn't always seem like a linear path to where I thought I wanted to go' had helped her in the past and motivated her to give directing a try. However, she found road blocks along the way since she hadn't been trained extensively as a director before trying her hand at it. 'It's hard to be competitive for that first big job when you've had no experience at that level before,' she explained. 'The feedback can feel like a Catch-22: You desperately want to prove you can do it, but folks have a hard time taking a chance on someone new.' In the same interview, she noted that being a child actor had been a far different experience for her than it has been for other stars, both those who found success later and those who left Hollywood. 'I had the most fun working as a child and surrounded by wonderful people,' Christine admitted. 'I love the fans that still approach me today and those who are now watching Step By Step again with their kids. There's a nostalgia that, as a fan of that time, I can completely appreciate.'
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Lionesses hero Chloe Kelly jets off for pre-Euros holiday - as she dances and soaks up the sun with her husband and Man United star
Chloe Kelly enjoyed some downtime as she jetted off on holiday with friends ahead of England's European Championship campaign. In a series of snaps on her Instagram account, Kelly showed off her Prada designer sunglasses with the caption: 'Love me some sunshine'. The 27-year-old also shared a group selfie alongside her husband Scott Moore and Manchester United defender and England international Gabby George. The England team-mates then showed off a Tik Tok dance to the viral song Jealousy by Khalil Harrison and Tyler ICU, with Kelly calling on fans to follow her on the short-form video platform. Kelly has had a lot to celebrate since her acrimonious exit from Manchester City in January that saw her accuse the club of 'attempting to 'assassinate my character'. With her career seemingly at a crossroads, the forward was offered a lifeline by Arsenal manager Renee Slegers to return to the club at which she had cut her teeth in the game as a teenager. After joining the Gunners for the remainder of the campaign Kelly quickly became integral to the club's success and she started last month's Women's Champions League final as the north London club secured European glory. As Sarina Wiegman's side prepare to begin the defence of their European crown, Kelly's future destination in club football is still yet to be confirmed. Asked after the Champions League triumph whether she would remain at Arsenal Kelly remained coy in a recent interview. 'Who knows?' She admitted. 'I just know that I've given my all for the club and the club's given their all to me, so I'm always grateful.' However, it appears that talks between player and club are currently underway, with Arsenal noting in their retained list that 'discussions are ongoing' over a new deal for Kelly.
