Queen Elizabeth II with her late husband Prince Philip. Picture: Instagram
In this week’s royal update, Duchess Camilla has revealed that Prince Charles is a natural with his grandchildren, and loves to read bedtime stories to them.
Investigative journalist, Tom Bower, has revealed in his upcoming book that Prince Harry was denied by the Queen to join her and other family members on the Palace balcony during the Platinum Jubilee, and the relationship between Nelson Mandela and the royal family has been uncovered.
A few weeks before the Platinum Jubilee weekend-long celebrations took place, the Palace had announced in a statement that the Queen had said that only full time working royal members could join her on the Palace balcony for the special occasions.
According to Bower, Prince Harry had requested prior to the announcement to make an appearance on the Palace balcony with his wife Meghan Markle, but his plea was rejected by the Queen.
In his upcoming book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsor’s, Bower revealed: “The obstacles for Meghan and Harry to appear centre-stage were considerable — not least because their presence was opposed by Charles.
“Charles preferred that the Sussexes, as private citizens, were not invited on to the balcony or to ride in a royal carriage. Instead, they would be confined to the VIP enclosures.
“In Meghan’s view those optics were unsatisfactory, partly because her value to Netflix was to stand near the Queen.”
Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Mandela first met in 1991, and reunited many times after that over the next two decades as their bond and friendship got stronger.
In 1996, Mandela made his first state visit to the UK, where he and Prince Charles toured Brixton, the home of one of the UK’s biggest black communities.
Prince Charles and Mandela met again a year later when Charles travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, with his son Prince Harry for a charity Spice Girls concert.
The late former president, as well as the late Princess Diana also go the chance to meet in 1997, five moths before Princess Diana’s tragic fatal car accident.
To mark Nelson Mandela International Day, Prince Harry gave a UN keynote speech in New York City, urging people to live their lives the way Mandela did by finding meaning and purpose in the struggle, and wearing their principles as armour.
In an interview, Camilla revealed that Charles enjoys spending some quality time with his grandchildren. She said that he really enjoys reading bedtime stories to them, and that he even gets into character and does different voices for them.
“His grandchildren aren’t too old, and he’s very good because he does all these voices for them. He even loves Nanar the Elephant. They are such lovely books, I think all ages love them, even grown ups.
“I think we all do that don’t we? I can never read Black Beauty to Eliza, my granddaughter, though, because she can’t cope with anything to do with an animal that is hurt,” said Duchess Camilla.
When talking about her own grandchildren, Camilla revealed that they have influenced to join Houseparty and TikTok so they can keep in touch with her and bond with her over the things they love.
“Well, I did go on Houseparty during lockdown. It was the only way I could keep in touch because I was in Scotland and they were in the south. We’d go on Houseparty and I could see everyone in the south sitting in the sunshine, while I was looking at snowflakes coming down my end.
“I’m not sure if they think I’m cool at 75. But we do have a very close relationship and they keep me in touch with the world of youth – and TikTok,” said the Duchess.
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