The Cost of Camilla: King Charles Accused of 'Sacrificing' Prince Harry to Save His and Mistress' Image After Affair

King Charles III has been accused of "sacrificing" Prince Harry to bolster his and then-Camilla Parker-Bowles' "dumpster fire" public images when he was the Prince of Wales in the 2000s.

In the years after Diana, Princess of Wales' tragic death in August 1997, the now King and Queen initiated a slow strategy of introducing the "most hated woman in Britain" anew to the British public. In 1999, the pair appeared in public as a couple for the first time, which followed Camilla's first meeting with Prince William the year before.

Throughout the early to mid-2000s, Harry reportedly struggled with substance abuse, which made media headlines in 2002 when he was dubbed "Harry Pothead." When the prince was 17, reports suggested the future king was trying to "shock" his youngest son by sending him to rehab for a day, but this was later disputed by many royal reporters.

"Any Royal involved in illegal activities is a great story, the only problem with this was, this was spin," royal expert Charles Rae shared. "This had not happened as they said. What had happened was that Harry had gone to this drug rehabilitation place two or three weeks beforehand. It was spun then to try and show people that 'don't worry, dad's taken care of it. He's taken him to a drug rehabilitation unit to show him the evils of his ways.'"

In a documentary, royal historian Robert Jobson stated that the former News of the World publication collaborated with the palace to portray the Prince of Wales favorably.

When the newspaper presented their findings to Charles' then-communications secretary, Mark Bolland, he leveraged his close relationship with editor Rebekah Wade to mitigate the story's impact. Bolland reportedly supplied additional details about Harry's prior visit to a rehabilitation center, aiming to cast Charles in a positive light.

A close friend of the Queen thinks this was a huge mistake in hindsight.

"I think it was a very bad decision on Bolland's part," journalist and longtime admirer of Charles and Camilla, Patronella Wyatt, stated. "I think Charles was slightly distracted at the time. I think he would probably feel now he shouldn't have allowed that to appear. It does look like a son being sacrificed to make his father look better."

In a 2023 interview, the Duke of Sussex observed, "Those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right? To rehabilitate their image. If you need to do that, or you want to do that, you choose to do that — well, that is a choice. That's up to you."

Daily Express reported on the expert opinions.