Wootton: Prince William will be more accepting of ‘Queen Camilla’ as opposed to Harry

Dan Wootton is arguably the most unhinged Daily Mail columnist and royal/political commentator. He sits in the middle of all of the overlapping circles of this particularly toxic VENN diagram: hard right-wing fascist; anti-mask and pro-Covid; anti-woke; pro-racism; and a true-blue royalist, but only when it comes to Prince William. Wootton’s loyalties to the royals are surprisingly tricky, and I’ve long felt like he was co-opted by Kensington Palace as William’s special pet attack dog. It makes more sense if you read Wootton’s latest column from that perspective, that he’s giving voice to William’s perspective. Wootton’s melodramatic column is headlined: “The idea of Queen Camilla makes me deeply uneasy but I accept the Queen’s verdict that royal status is earned through conduct and commitment to duty not a right – Harry and Meghan should take note.” LOL, he knows more people will read it if he includes Harry and Meghan’s names. Some highlights:

Struggling to accept Queen Camilla: “While I have accepted that Camilla has become a devoted servant to her husband, the nation and the Commonwealth, I admit today that I will still struggle to accept Queen Camilla….While I acknowledge the Queen’s wishes and believe her feelings should be respected, I cannot stop thinking today about the pain and anguish such a move would have brought to Diana. The very thought of a Queen Camilla horrified her and, when accepting the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla, we were promised this would never happen.

The disconnect between media elite & British public: “For some time, I have been acutely aware of the disconnect between the establishment and media elite, which has long accepted Camilla, and a significant section of ordinary Brits who still can’t bring themselves to forget the pain the Duchess of Cornwall wrought on a young Diana, who discovered her husband could never give up on his love for his married mistress. The opinion polls have long backed up that position, with Camilla’s approval ratings remaining stubbornly low.

Charles & Camilla need to win over the public: “Regardless, this [Queen Camilla] decision is now locked in – the Queen’s endorsement will not be challenged and the passing of time has certainly dulled public fury. But it’s critical that Charles and Camilla do what they can to win over the sceptics among us, who I would argue make up about a third of the population. The most obvious way to do this would be a public acknowledgement of Diana by both Charles and Camilla, especially given her importance to William, the second in line to the throne. Camilla could agree to highlight and elevate the work of the Diana Memorial Awards, for example, first established in 1999. That would go some way to assuage fears Diana’s legacy will not be extinguished.

On the Sussexes, and “duty”: “Camilla will be Queen Consort on merit because she has been dutiful for many years. Prince Harry and Meghan are not considered working royals because they refused to be dutiful.”

Charles’s fear of Prince Harry’s book: “And have no doubt that the scheming Sussexes in Montecito are a big factor behind the Queen’s timing. As I have previously revealed for MailOnline, royal courtiers – especially those close to Prince Charles – are gripped with fear about the publication of Harry’s tell-all autobiography, which they expect to be particularly brutal towards Camilla. By making this announcement now, it will make it easier for the Cornwalls to weather the likely storm heading in their direction by providing rock-solid security about Camilla’s future role. Harry will likely feel personally betrayed and livid by the decision, given his entire mission now seems to be to destabilise and potentially even bring down the monarchy.

How William feels: “William, by contrast, who understandably has all his own complicated and deeply personal issues with Camilla, now accepts the happiness and stability of his father must be put first given the weight of the role he will likely take on one day as an old man. So I will try to accept the Queen’s desire and shake the uneasiness that I feel deep within me about this decision.

[From The Daily Mail]

It’s still crazy to me that the British media has accepted as fait accompli that Prince Harry is going to criticize Camilla in his memoir. Harry has never indicated anything like that and no one around him has said anything about Camilla. The whole “Harry’s memoir will be brutal towards Camilla” story originated at Clarence House. It’s one of Prince Charles’s big worrystones these days, that Harry’s memoir will hurt Cam or what have you. It’s so odd – I mean, I expect Harry to write about his mother and Diana’s mental health. Which will obviously lead to conversations about how Charles and Camilla did the most to gaslight a naive 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer from the jump.

As for the rest of Wootton’s column… as I said, I think he’s some kind of catastrophic mouthpiece for William. The aim is to set it up as “Harry hates Camilla and Charles, while William is serenely swallowing bitterness because he’s so kingly and forward-thinking.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.