Prince Harry “begged” dad King Charles not to marry Camilla as he accuses her of leaking stories

In a scathing section of Prince Harry’s memoir, he says the pain he felt the first time he was introduced to Camilla was like “getting an injection” as he accuses her of leaking stories.

The now king and his bride Camilla in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle after their wedding ceremony, April 9, 2005 in Windsor, England. Picture: Hugo Burnand/Getty Images.

Prince Harry had made a sensational claim that he and Prince William begged their father not to marry Camilla, fearing she would become their wicked stepmother.

In a scathing section of the Duke of Sussex’s highly anticipated biography Spare, already on sale in Spain, the rogue royal tells of the moment he was introduced to King Charles’ then girlfriend - the “other woman” - describing their first meeting akin to “avoiding pain while getting an injection.”

“This is nothing. Close your eyes and you won‘t even feel it,” he said he told himself at the time.

Revealing the brothers were eased into getting to know the now Queen Consort in separate private meetings, he said the very first time Camilla appeared “bored”, saying it was ”pure formality” as he was not the heir or a major obstacle.

“I remember wondering … if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the evil stepmothers in the stories,” he said of his paranoia decades before Camilla became queen consort, according to excerpts seen by Page Six.

“Willy had been suspicious of the Other Woman for a long time, which confused and tormented him,” Harry wrote, using his still-affectionate nickname for the brother he also now calls his “arch-nemesis.”

The Duke of Sussex says he and the Prince of Wales, William, pictured at the wedding of Laura Parker-Bowles, daughter of the queen Consort, begged the King not to marry Camilla. Photo :Carl De Souza

The then Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall married in April 2005 after a long standing romance which overlapped with his marriage to Princess Diana. Photo by Hugo Burnand

Seeing that their dad “like us” wasn’t happy, Prince Harry and Prince William eventually said they would welcome Camilla — but both “begged” him not to marry a second time, Harry writes.

They did, however, enjoy small talk about horses, he wrote.

Prince Harry also shockingly accused Camilla of leaking stories to the press and claims she launched a campaign to marry Charles to get the crown.

According to the Sun, he accuses Camilla of leaking details of her conversation with Prince William to the press and that the information could only have come from the communications person that Camilla convinced his dad to hire.

Also in the 557 page memoir dedicated to his wife, children and of course my mother, reading: ‘Para Meg, Archie y Lili... y, for supuesto, mi madre’, he admits he did wonder whether Camilla would one day be his “wicked stepmother”.

But he claims he and his brother were willing to forgive her in “their hearts” if she could make their father happy.

The duke says that he and Prince William promised Charles they would welcome Camilla into the family - but only if he didn’t get married for a second time after the death of their mother Diana.

Publishing sources at Penguin Random House had said arrangements for the release of Prince Harry‘s “explosive” memoir were closely guarded and being managed in meticulous detail, with only a handful of senior executives informed of the exact details.

Camilla had been previously married to Captain Andrew Parker Bowles. Pictured outside the Guards' Chapel on their wedding day on July 4 1973. Photo: Frank Barratt

It is believed the bookchain in Spain mistakenly released the book in advance of its January 10 publishing date.

One possible reason that the Duke of Sussex‘s book went on sale early in Spain is that tomorrow is King’s Day – when families traditionally give presents just as happens in Britain on Christmas Day.

Publishers possibly believed it might prove the book, espoused in the Spanish media, could make a good last minute present.

Harry and William say they forgave the marriage if the Queen Consort could make their father King Charles III happy. Pictured at the royal family's traditional Christmas Day service in Norfolk. Photo by Daniel Leal

Deliveries to bookshops were said to be scheduled to be last-minute to avoid unauthorised copies being leaked. Guarded sites across the world have been secured to house copies of the book prior to distribution.

Entitled En La Sombra – In the Shadow in Spanish – the hardback copy was selling for €21.90 in the ‘recommended’ section of the Casa del Libro, which is a nationwide chain of booksellers.

In the book, Prince Harry also says he broke the pact with the Prince of Wales not to hurl barbs at each other after a physical spat with Prince William who had branded Meghan “rude,” ”difficult” and “abrasive”.

Princess Diana enjoyed a close bond with her sons princess William and Harry until her premature death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997. Photo: Tim Graham

He writes that he and Prince William had a screaming match at his London Nottingham Cottage to discuss his relationship with the Suits American actress in 2019 when he branded her “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.

Describing what he claims happened next, the former soldier insisted he was scared, writing that he set down the water and William “called me another name, then came at me.”

“It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” he writes.

The late Princess of Wales had said in a televised interview there were “three of us in this marriage” referring to Charles’s then mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. Pictured in Australia with Charles in 1988

“I landed on the dog‘s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out’.

Prince Harry also writes that when he was born, King Charles allegedly told Diana: ‘Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare - my work is done.’

In a separate excerpt, Prince Harry said he told his brother he was unable to understand why he was not happy with being ‘the spare’, accusing his brother of acting like an heir. Prince William told him he was trying to help him.

Harry said: “Are you serious? Help me? Sorry – is that what you call this? Helping me?”

It was that comment, according to Harry, which infuriated William, causing him to swear and allegedly attack him.

Originally published as Prince Harry “begged” dad King Charles not to marry Camilla as he accuses her of leaking stories