William and Kate ignore questions about Harry’s book during hospital visit
William and Kate dodged questions about Prince Harry’s incendiary memoir as they made their first public appearances since the tell-all’s release.
One journalist called out as the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital: ‘Do you ever plan to comment on Harry’s book sir?’
The couple ignored the question and, after being welcomed by senior figures from the hospital, began their tour of the critical care ward, meeting nurses and other staff looking after seriously ill patients.
At the end of the visit they met hospital volunteers in the building’s atrium and went on an extensive walkabout, shaking hands, praising staff and posing for selfies with the excited NHS workers.
One elderly woman, who had an appointment at the hospital, stood against a barrier waiting to talk to the future King and when he stopped she grasped his hand.
The 81-year-old, who only gave her first name Sylvia, said ‘Keep going Will, scousers love you’, and he replied: ‘I will do.’
Meanwhile, the King was asked whether he was ‘hurt by the comments in the book’ during a visit to community groups in Aberdeenshire.
Charles was reportedly being driven away when the question was called out and it is unclear whether His Majesty even heard it.
Harry’s controversial autobiography, Spare, has become the fastest selling non-fiction book in history, according to Penguin Random House.
The publisher reported more than 1.4 million copies were sold on Tuesday, the first day it went on sale.
The book includes claims the Prince of Wales physically attacked Harry and teased him about his panic attacks, and that the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales.
Reports of a fractious friendship between Meghan and Kate were confirmed, with Harry recounting how the princess, pregnant at the time with Prince Louis, said she was owed an apology from his wife who had previously commented Kate was suffering from ‘baby brain’ due to her ‘hormones’.
He shed further light on the row over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress claiming, contrary to reports at the time, Kate was not in tears but the incident had left Meghan ‘sobbing on the floor’.
A royal expert has claimed William is ‘privately seething and devastated by what Harry has done’ and ‘cannot forgive’ his brother for the things he has written.
Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl told Page Six the Royal Family ‘have been taken aback by the level of detail and just how far Harry has gone in all of this’.
She added: ‘It really feels like a line has been crossed.’
Harry is unlikely to be invited to his father’s coronation following the release of his book.
Senior royals are said to be worried their conversations could end up in the paperback edition published later.
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