bitchy | Royalist: It’s not in Prince Harry’s interest to drop receipts on King Charles??

The Daily Beast’s Royalist has another flimsy “exclusive” about Prince Harry’s memoir. I guess the point of the British media and royalist media’s wall-to-wall meltdown about the memoir is to make the book “old news” by the time it’s published. Will it actually work that way? I don’t know. I know I’m tired of these exclusives, especially because it’s clear that every single one of these “insiders” and “royal journalists” are just talking out of their asses. The exclusive information in this piece is that one chapter in particular in Harry’s memoir will be super-damaging to his father. But really, this piece was just an excuse for Tom Sykes (“The Royalist”) to interview Valentine Low, the author of Courtiers. Some highlights:

One chapter: Anxiety over the content of Prince Harry’s memoir is growing in the royal family’s inner circle, with one source telling The Daily Beast that a particular chapter in the book could cause “big trouble” for King Charles. The royal insider told The Daily Beast: “There is one chapter in particular that could spell big trouble for Charles.” However, they did not say what revelations the chapter in question detailed.

Original time table: The source did say that their understanding was that the book is still likely to be published according to its original timetable before the end of the year. Publishers Random House did not respond to a request for comment on the issue, however their website still says the book is due out “late” this year.

Sanguine courtiers: While courtiers are moderately sanguine about both The Crown (the simple “it’s made up” message seems to be cutting through domestically at least) and the Netflix docuseries that Meghan has promised will explore the couple’s “love story,” Harry’s book is seen as a different order of threat.

Meghan’s “attacks” are abating: Her lightweight Variety interview, in which she praised the late Queen Elizabeth and did not trash the royals, was seen by some as a sign that her attacks on the Palace may be abating. One source, a friend of the family, told The Daily Beast: “It is interesting that when she isn’t slagging off the royals, Meghan has very little of interest to say. There was nothing in the [Variety] interview that would trouble the royals. If this is the tone the Netflix show is going to take, then I think it might be a good deal less problematic for the family than has been assumed. The worst could be over.”

Valentine Low on Meghan’s Variety interview: “It was interesting that Meghan, in her Variety interview, was very conciliatory. She spoke warmly about the queen and was certainly not stirring up controversy. I think that might be taken as an encouraging sign that, ultimately, they are moving on and looking to the future.”

Low’s inside information: Intriguingly, Low told The Daily Beast that he had knowledge of a meeting between Harry and a private individual (not a Palace staffer) while Harry was in London. The person gently suggested to Harry he might go easy on his family in the book but, Low says, “Harry was not very receptive to the idea.”

Low on Harry’s memoir: “While Harry could certainly make revelations that are damaging and produce days or even weeks of headlines, and tropes that get wheeled out for years to come, I think his book is unlikely to be terminally damaging for either the king or the royal family. You only have to look at ‘Tampongate,’ when Charles was recorded having literally the most embarrassing phone call (with Camilla, imagining being her tampon—revealed to the world in 1993), you could possibly imagine. He survived it, indeed, he married Camilla and she is now queen.”

What??? While it is probably not in Harry’s long-term interests to reveal something so devastating that it forces the king to abdicate (even if he had the receipts) it is, whether the Sussexes like it or not, their ability to dish on the royals that is their most valuable product. As one media executive told the Daily Beast: “Netflix doesn’t care about Meghan’s quest for social justice. They just want to know if James Hewitt is Harry’s dad.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“It is probably not in Harry’s long-term interests to reveal something so devastating that it forces the king to abdicate (even if he had the receipts)…” I’M SORRY WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? You can’t just introduce the idea that Harry might have receipts which could bring down the king? My God, they really are worried. I also wonder about Low’s aside, that someone – not a staffer – pulled Harry aside during the mourning period. Curious.

About all of the shady sh-t regarding Meghan’s Variety interview. I’ve been thinking about this all week, how well Meghan handled that, how easily she deflected the larger questions about what happened after QEII passed away. She didn’t give the British media anything, and they were twisting themselves in knots to parse her statements and find ways to criticize her. I mean, they were even crying about the expensive clothes she wore for the photoshoot, that’s how desperate they were for red meat. She gave them nothing, and now they’re mad so they’re complaining that her interview was “soapy” and “lightweight.” Just wait until Harry and Meghan give interviews to promote his memoir and their docu-series.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Variety’s YouTube video screenshots, plus the cover courtesy of Variety.