Queen Camilla was left “hurt” after being branded “the villain” by Prince Harry in his protocol-shattering memoir, “Spare,” according to her friend.
The Duke of Sussex claimed in his eyebrow-raising book that his stepmother leaked stories about the royal family to the media to maintain her image and boost her popularity.
But despite not speaking out against Harry’s claims, Camilla’s friend Fiona Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marchioness of Lansdowne, told The Sunday Times that the King’s wife was affected by the remarks.
“Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts. But she doesn’t let it get to her,” she told the outlet.
“Her philosophy is always, ‘Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down — least said, soonest mended,'” added Petty-Fitzmaurice, who is one of Camilla’s closest companions and is married to Charles, 9th Marquess of Lansdowne.
A royal aide also told the outlet that Camila did not make a big fuss over the comment.
“It was not stamping of feet or gnashing of teeth, it was much more of an eye-roll response,” the aide said.
The Post has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
In the memoir, released in January, the duke wrote, “I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal P.R. altar.”
He said that meeting Camilla – referred to as the “Other Woman” in his book – was like an “injection,” writing, “Close your eyes and you won’t even feel it.”
“I remember wondering… if she would be cruel to me; if she would be like all the evil stepmothers in the stories.”
Harry, 38, said that Camilla’s need to rehabilitate her image from being a “villain” in the British press made her “dangerous” to him “because of the connections that she was forging within the British press.”
“And there was open willingness on both sides to trade of information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being Queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that.”
Harry later seemingly added fuel to the fire by revealing that he and William “begged” their father not to marry Camilla.
After Camilla and Charles had a widely publicized affair that led to Charles and Princess Diana divorcing, the pair finally married in 2005.
Speaking to ITV’s Tom Bradby during “Harry: The Interview” in January, the duke claimed stories began to be leaked after the pair made the request.
“We didn’t think it was necessary,” he said. “We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good. And that if he was now with his person — surely that’s enough. Why go that far when you don’t necessarily need to?”
Harry also alleged that Camilla, 75, left him as a “body in the street” because of her need to give herself a better image than being the “other woman” in Charles’ and Diana’s marriage.