In an excerpt from his memoir expected on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex recounts the death of Queen Elizabeth II and what he blew to her remains.
In The Alternate (Fayard), Prince Harry’s autobiography, expected in bookstores on Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex recounts the moment he learned of his grandmother’s death, and the few words he whispered to his remains. A sequence described as “moving” by the DailyMailin a context where the prince multiplies the explosive revelations about the royal family.
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, at the age of 96. Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan and their children was in the UK at the time. He had taken the plane a few hours earlier to join the monarch, while the entire royal family rushed to his bedside. According to US Weeklyhe did not arrive in time: as soon as he landed, an article from the BBC website informed him of the disappearance of his grandmother.
“I whispered that I hoped she was happy”
At Balmoral he was met by his aunt, Princess Anne, who led him to the Queen’s remains. He recounts this moment in his book:
“I walked forward uncertainly, and saw her. I stood still, watching her intently for quite a while. I whispered that I hoped she was happy, and that she was now with grandfather”.
Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth since 1947, died on April 9, 2021 at the age of 99. They now rest together in the Georges VI Memorial, housed by the Saint-Georges chapel.
Homework “guaranteed until the end”
Prince Harry concludes: “I told him I admired him for carrying out his duties until the end. The Platinum Jubilee, his welcome from the new Prime Minister.”
Elizabeth II made several appearances during her platinum jubilee, celebrating her 70-year reign, three months before her death. Only two days before the fateful date, she shook hands with the new British Prime Minister Liz Truss – since replaced by Rishi Sunak.
The first revelations of Harry’s memoir were unveiled on Thursday. At the same time, the book went on sale a few hours by mistake in Spain, five days before its release date. Since then, leaks have been piling up in the world press.
Thus, according to US WeeklyPrince Harry recounts there that an argument broke out with his father, King Charles III, when the latter called him to inform him of the failing health of Elizabeth II:
“He told me I was welcome at Balmoral but he didn’t want… her,” he wrote of Meghan. “He presented his reasons which were meaningless, disrespectful, and he did not convince me. (…) (I answered him): ‘Never talk to me about my wife in this way.’.”
The media recalls that Kate Middleton, the wife of William, did not go to Balmoral either.
Drugs and the Taliban
The first excerpts from Harry’s memoirs shake the monarchy. We learn in particular that his brother William “thrown him to the ground” during a violent altercation over Meghan, that Harry tested cocaine in his youth, that he killed 25 Taliban when he worked in the in the army in Afghanistan or that he lost his virginity in the back of a pub.
In addition, three promotional interviews are expected: two on Sunday (one on CNN in the US, another on ITV in the UK) and one on Monday morning, on the North American show Good Morning America.
