Why A Royal Biographer Thinks Prince Harry Is Pathetic
Fans of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been supportive of the couple's decision to step down as senior royals, especially since the Duchess of Sussex has endured years of harsh treatment by the press (which many attributed in part to racism) — but one royal biographer has taken the opposite tack. In her newly released book Meghan and Harry: The Real Story, author Lady Colin Campbell claims that Harry is "pathetic" and that Meghan will one day "make him miserable," among other allegations. Even more surprising? According to the Daily Mail, it's not clear whether Campbell has even met the subjects of her wild tell-all, which debuted in June 2020.
So why does Campbell, who is a British socialite as well as a royal biographer, make these claims about Harry and his relationship with Meghan? And what might the Sussexes think of it all? Let's take a look.
Lady Colin Campbell's book is full of wild theories
Per the Daily Mail, an excerpt of Lady Colin Campbell's controversial new book was released online on the same day the tell-all was set for debut in June 2020. In the snippet, Campbell offers a shocking thesis about the power dynamics between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as well as the Duchess of Sussex's endgame.
According to Campbell (also known as Lady C), Harry is "too weak" to ever leave his wife, who Campbell describes as a stereotypical domineering woman. The author and television personality says that Meghan's aims are those of "a total opportunist" who "knew in advance she'd embark on commercial ventures, which royalty strictly forbids."
Even more stunning is Lady C's allegation that "Megxit" was a major step towards a larger political goal: for the Duchess of Sussex to one day lead the United States. "I know the Duchess of Sussex has political ambitions and I've been told that one day she wants to run for President," Campbell concluded.
Now that's a new one! But these types of allegations are nothing new for Lady C.
Other royals have gotten the Campbell treatment before
Lady Colin Campbell's unauthorized tell-all comes just a few months before the release of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's biography, Finding Freedom by royal journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. The shrewd timing of Campbell's book means that it'll be months before a more official chronicle of Meghan and Harry's life will have the chance to rebut Campbell's claims.
This is far from Lady C's first time writing a salacious royal tell-all. Since the publication of her first biography, a 1992 tome about the life of Prince Harry's mother Princess Diana, Lady C has made a career out of writing about the private lives of royal family members, and she's made plenty of outlandish and hard-to-believe claims. After that first book, she was "dismissed as a fantasist, only to be later vindicated" when a couple of her claims about Diana did prove to be true, per a 2013 article in The Telegraph.
Campbell has published equally controversial tell-alls about the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II. Once, Lady C claimed that the Queen Mother was the daughter of a French cook, which explained the meaning behind her nickname, "Cookie." Historians were quick to dismiss her theories as "bizarre" and "nonsense" (via The Telegraph).
Lady C is no stranger to vocally criticizing Meghan and Harry, either.
Lady Colin Campbell once went after baby Archie's race
Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in 2018, Lady Colin Campbell has made it a point to comment on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's relationship — and, in line with the reported content of her book, her remarks are often quite controversial.
Lady C has even gone after the Sussexes' child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in a way that managed to add race into the mix. In October 2018, Campbell derided commentator Piers Morgan on-air after Morgan asked fellow panelist Paul Burrell how Meghan's child, "the first ever [B]lack royal baby," could meaningfully impact the United Kingdom in terms of race and racism (via Metro).
Campbell dismissed the concept, opining that Archie — whose mother identifies as mixed-race and has a Black mom — could not be considered Black. She then proceeded to compare Archie's multiracial identity to how Adolf Hitler defined people as Jewish — if they were at least one-eighth Jewish by heritage, this made them "racially impure," leading to the deaths of millions during the Holocaust. (This was an incorrect and inappropriate analogy to make, considering the implications of impurity in both cases could feasibly be read as racist and antisemitic.) Though Campbell is ethnically mixed and Jamaican-born, she clearly has a lot of learning about multiracial Black identity to do.
Lady Colin Campbell has defended one shady royal
Lady Colin Campbell's comments about Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and their son Archie are shocking. But perhaps even more shocking is which royal family members she chooses to defend.
Campbell made headlines in November 2019 after an appearance on Good Morning Britain in which she defended Prince Andrew, who lost his position as a full-time royal after the discovery of his past association with Jeffrey Epstein, followed by allegations of sexually abusing a minor and accusations of using the N-word. Andrew stepped down from all public royal duties after the controversy.
During Campbell's segment, she opined that the act of soliciting sex from minors was "not the same as pedophilia" and further stated that she "suspect[s] there's a difference between a minor and a child" (via Metro).
As of this writing, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not responded to any of the allegations in Campbell's book. But considering her views and past statements, it's safe to say that the Sussexes' supporters will take Campbell's claims with a huge grain of salt. Fans will get Meghan and Harry's side of the story soon, as Finding Freedom comes out in August 2020.