Prince Harry has claimed King Charles resented his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for "overshadowing" the rest of the royal family.
Prince Harry has detailed his discussions with King Charles
The 38-year-old royal - who has had to cover his own expenses since he and his spouse stepped down from official duties to start a new life in California in 2020 - had a conversation with his father in which he alleged the king told him there wasn't "enough money" to financially support the 'Suits' actress, but he doesn't think things were as straightforward as that.
Writing in his memoir 'Spare', the Duke of Sussex claimed Charles said he was "already having to pay" a lot to support Harry, as well as his older brother Prince William, and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
But Harry wrote: “Pa didn’t financially support Willy and me, and our families, out of any largesse. That was his job. That was the whole deal.”
The BetterUp CIO told how he and William "agreed to serve the monarch" and stay "inside the gilded cage at all times" in exchange to be taken care of, so he was confused by the king's remarks - until he realised it wasn't the money he was worried about.
He wrote: “Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him."
Harry noted that Charles - who became king in September following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth - had "lived through that before" when he married Princess Diana.
Harry also claimed William had told him not to propose to Meghan because he was concerned their relationship was moving "too fast".
And he explained his brother dismissed suggestions he and the former 'Deal or No Deal' star - with whom he has children Archie, three, and Lili, 19 months - would "become a foursome" with him and Catherine because she was “an American actress after all.”
But as things grew more serious between Meghan and Harry, the younger prince told his brother he felt their late mother Diana had helped him "find" her, which made "concerned" William uncomfortable.
Harry - who got engaged to Meghan in 2017 after a year together and married her in May 2018 - wrote that the Prince of Wales "took a step back" and told him he was "taking things a bit too far".
Tagged in Prince Harry Meghan Markle King Charles