King Charles was 'scared others would find out' about Queen's death when calling William
King Charles faced unexpected hurdles when trying to get through to Prince William and Harry to tell him about Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
A new book by Robert Hardman claims King Charles had some trouble when phoning his eldest son to inform him his grandmother had died. Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, and Charles, 75, wanted to make sure his sons heard it through him. Thankfully, he managed to get in touch with Prince William without any big issues. However, Prince Harry claims in his memoir he wasn’t so lucky.
King Charles wanted to tell William himself that the Queen had died
In his latest book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, Hardman writes, he was told by a member of King Charles’ staff he was calling Prince William after Queen Elizabeth II’s death when he had a “momentary pause.”
The sovereign wanted to tell William, 42, the heartbreaking news, but didn’t yet want the switchboard he’d called to know first. He was worried about the news breaking before the immediate family of the late queen knew she had died.
Hardman penned: “It might have been an intensely personal matter but there was still a strict process to be observed, starting with the new heir to the throne … He began by saying: ‘Hello, it’s ..! At which point, he paused momentarily.
MORE: Queen Camilla ‘promised’ she’d ‘look after’ King Charles after Elizabeth’s death
“He did not, at that very moment, want to tell the switchboard that he was now King before telling his own son. Besides, if there was no reply to his call, who was to say how quickly word might leak out around the royal network?”
The king is said to have continued by simply saying “It’s me” and his voice was recognized. He was then put through and thankfully able to break the news.
However, Hardman wrote: “Because the sudden decline and death of the Queen had been so much swifter than anyone had expected, nearly all the members of the Royal Family had been unable to say a formal goodbye.”
Prince Harry claims he found out from a news alert
In his memoir Spare, which was released last year in January, the Duke of Sussex claimed he found out about his grandmother’s death from a BBC News notification rather than through his dad. Charles was able to tell Prince William. However, as Hardman says in his book, Harry was on a flight at the time and despite his dad “urgently trying” to get in touch, he was unsuccessful.
“There were repeated attempts to get through to him, but no calls were going through because Harry was airborne,” an official told the writer.
In his book, Harry wrote he’d received a call from his dad informing him of the queen’s worsening condition, and so he flew to Scotland to join his estranged family.
Meghan Markle was in the UK with Harry as they flew over to attend the WellChild Awards. But Meghan stayed behind, like Kate Middleton. Whereas, their two young children were back in the US.
He flew alone after apparently being asked not to bring his wife with him.
“When the plane started to descend, I saw that my phone lit up. It was a message from Meg: “Call me when you get this,'” the royal wrote.
“I looked at the BBC website. My grandmother had died. My father was King.”
MORE: King Charles had just one tear-jerking question to ask when his grandfather died
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