Prince Harry and Meghan Markle don’t often respond to criticism.
So that’s exactly why their very public reaction to a blistering new book by royal biographer Tom Bower is raising eyebrows.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s unusually scathing pushback to the author’s upcoming book, Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, has only intensified the fallout, with former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond suggesting their reaction reveals just how deeply Bower’s claims have landed.
In her view, the controversy has “hit a very raw nerve,” she wrote in a column for Britain’s Daily Mirror.
A rare response
In his new book, author Tom Bower details how a 2018 “teatime reconciliation meeting” between Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton “spun out of control.” By: James Whatling / MEGA
Bond explained just how unusual it is for the Sussexes to engage so directly.
“It’s rare these days to get any kind of response from Harry and Meghan, they prefer instead to ignore the noise and the gossip,” Bond wrote.
“But this time the pushback has been both swift and blistering,” she added, pointing to a statement issued by their spokesperson dismissing Bower’s claims as “deranged conspiracy and melodrama.” (The allegations first appeared in a book excerpt published in Britain’s The Times.)
Bower wrote some brutal stuff involving two of Harry’s greatest priorities — his wife and the Invictus Games, the sporting event he founded in 2014 to celebrate wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans.
Among the explosive allegations is one attributed to his stepmother, Queen Camilla. “Meghan’s brainwashed Harry,” King Charles III’s wife allegedly told a friend, according to Bower’s book.
Bower also alleged Meghan sought to use the Invictus Games as a “global stage” to promote herself — a claim Bond says would likely have left Harry “incandescent.”
Tough to ignore
According to author Tom Bower’s new book, Kate Middleton and Prince William felt Meghan Markle “had become a divisive agent.” By: Chris Jackson/WPA-Pool/MEGA
Bond believes these kinds of allegations would be especially difficult for Harry to ignore, given his long-standing protectiveness toward his wife.
“For Harry, any attack on his wife is treason and provokes a visceral response: He will defend her to the end of the earth,” Bond wrote.
She also warned that the fallout from Bower’s claims, and the Sussexes’ strong reaction, could complicate the already fragile relationship Harry has with the royal family.
“The trouble is that his reignited fury and this new spotlight on all that has gone wrong over the past few years has the potential to open up fresh wounds,” she explained.
Bond further noted that renewed tensions could make any future reconciliation even more difficult, especially ahead of events like the 2027 Invictus Games, which are set to take place in Birmingham, England.
Reports have suggested Harry wants his father to help open the event in a show of public unity and support for U.K. military veterans.
“It might only have been a pipe dream,” Bond added, “but this book could make it even more unlikely.”
Harry and Meghan’s rebuttal
The statement from Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson, issued after the excerpt appeared in The Times, was intense.
“Mr. Bower’s commentary has long crossed the line from criticism into fixation. This is someone who has publicly stated, ‘The monarchy in fact depends on actually obliterating the Sussexes from our state of life,’ language that speaks for itself,” a spokesperson for the couple said.
“He has made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met,” their rep added.
“Those interested in facts will look elsewhere; those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him,” the rep concluded.