The King by Christopher Andersen

Author:Christopher Andersen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2022-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

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Charles then had to deal with an emotionally wrenching milestone that loomed on the horizon. Everyone—but no one more than William and Harry—dreaded the approaching anniversary of Diana’s death. Searching for distractions, the young princes decided to throw a surprise fiftieth birthday party for their father. To ensure that it would indeed be a surprise, they decided to host it at Highgrove on July 31, three and a half months before his actual birthday.

Not surprisingly, details were leaked to the Sunday Mirror just ten days before the party was to take place. An angry Charles went so far as to issue a statement saying that William and Harry were “upset” that the plans for the “secret party they were planning for their father” had been divulged. “They worked very hard to try to pull it off…. The Prince of Wales is sad that the newspaper involved did not handle the information it received with greater common sense and courtesy.” William and Harry went ahead anyway, enlisting Prince Charles’s longtime friends Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and “Mr. Bean” Rowan Atkinson to perform in a takeoff on another Atkinson vehicle, the hit British TV comedy Blackadder.

Not long after, Charles, William, Harry, and the rest of the royals fled to their usual summer sanctuary at Balmoral. While the outside world was inundated with articles and television specials commemorating Diana’s death, the Prince of Wales took his sons fishing, riding, hunting, hiking, and picnicking with the Queen, Prince Philip, and the Queen Mother. This time, during services at Crathie Kirk Diana’s name was actually mentioned. The congregation recited a “Prayer of Remembrance and Thanksgiving for Diana, Princess of Wales,” in which she was praised as “a person who touched the hearts of so many people. She knew sorrow as well as happiness in her own life, and through this she grew in compassion for the suffering of others.” Charles, who had been responsible for a considerable amount of Diana’s suffering, dutifully recited the prayer with the rest of the congregants. Behind the scenes, he also stepped in to insist that on the first anniversary of Diana’s death flags around the United Kingdom fly at half-mast. This time the Queen, clearly having learned her lesson the hard way, did not hesitate to issue the order.

Camilla was nowhere to be seen—and with good reason. As the first anniversary approached, the death threats mounted, and Charles pleaded with her to stay at Ray Mill House where the royal protection officers could protect her. “Is it going to be this way every year for the rest of my life?” she asked one of her bodyguards. “I’m not sure I can stand that.”

In the fall, Charles was on hand when Harry joined his brother at Eton. William flourished there as both a scholar and an athlete. Ranking in the top 10 percent of his class academically, he was also captain of the swim team and excelled on the water polo, rowing, and rugby teams. He was also

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