03 April 2024 , 13:59
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Tom Parker Bowles, Queen Camilla's only son, spoke out to publicly defend his mother in the wake of criticisms from Prince Harry.
Camilla is a mother of two children - as well as food critic Tom, she shares daughter Laura Lopes with her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. The couple divorced in 1995 and 10 years later, in April 2005, she married the then-Prince Charles.
Her son Tom later spoke out to defend her against cruel allegations she played an "end game" in her relationship with the future king, maintaining she had simply "married the person she loved". Speaking on The News Agents podcast in April 2023, Tom said: "I think change happens but I don't care what anyone says – this wasn't any sort of end game.
"She married the person she loved and this is what happened."
His comments came just months after Tom's stepbrother, Prince Harry, made a number of claims about his stepmother Camilla in his memoir, Spare, branding her "dangerous" and claiming she played "the long game", with a campaign aimed at marriage and "the crown".
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"I had complex feelings about gaining a step parent who, I believed, had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar," Harry wrote in his tell-all book.
He said that meeting Camilla – who he referred to as the 'Other Woman' in his memoir – was like an "injection", writing: "Close your eyes and you won't even feel it." "I remember wondering... if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the evil stepmothers in the stories," he wrote.
Harry further escalated his allegations against Camilla in a second interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday by calling her "dangerous" because of the supposed connections she has with members of the media.
"There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street," he told host . He then further described his stepmother as "the villain".
It comes amid reports that Harry is now struggling with Prince William's growing bond with Camilla. The pair have become closer over the years - and have stepped up their royal responsibilities in light of the King and Princess Kate's health battles.
Speaking exclusively to the , Tom Quinn, a royal expert and author said: "He [Harry] really distrusts that William actually gets on rather well now with Camilla – Harry will see this as a betrayal. He was shocked when William realised that Camilla, far from being the monster they thought her when they were children, is actually a rather nice woman."
Mr Quinn added: "She is exceptionally good at listening with a sympathetic ear and William has definitely warmed to that. Harry on the other hand sees this as one more example of William letting the side down – for Harry things have never moved on really since his mother died.
"For Harry, Camilla was the wicked stepmother back then, and she still is. It's all very sad, but shows that the huge geographical divide between the brothers – Harry in America, William in London – has become a physical manifestation of their emotional separation."