King Charles may be “furious” over “derogatory” nicknames for private secretaries used in Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, a royal biographer said. In his tell-all, Prince Harry refers to three “courtiers” nicknamed The Bee, The Fly and The Wasp who would be “easily identifiable” for royal insiders adding that all of them were private secretaries of the senior royals at the time, Hindustan Times reported.
“I’d spent my life dealing with courtiers, scores of them. But now I dealt mostly with just three, all middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian manoeuvres," Prince Harry said.
Royal expert and biographer Robert Jobson said that although Prince Harry may have used the nicknames to protect the identity of the secretaries, they are “deeply insulting”.
“The connotation using the bee, wasp and the fly suggests these people are kind of pest-like, flying around the room, literally trying to say they’re derogatory in that respect. Anyone who knows would realise straight away who they are,” Robert Jobson said.
“They’re public servants they can’t answer back, it’s unfair to them. They’re not in the position to, they’re serving the crown. This is what they have to do, that’s the role they have to play so to criticise them in really derogatory terms and say they need to be swatted like flies is deeply insulting," Robert Jobson further added.
“I’m sure the king is furious but as a father it’s very difficult because it’s his son. He’d be worried about things said in the public domain but despite all that’s been said, that’s his son – it’s very sad," the royal expert said.