Princess Diana’s former voice coach, Stewart Pearce, has claimed the reason Prince Charles has had a hard time with Prince Harry’s parenting criticisms is that Prince Charles is “immensely sensitive”.
Pearce revealed to US Weekly that the future king of England is a “very very shy man”.
“Prince Charles is a very, very shy man, a very sensitive and delicate man, but we see his public personality, but in private, he’s immensely sensitive,” he said.
“When we’re sensitive, if we’re dealing with very strong, combustible emotion on the outside of us,” people tend to go into fight or flight.
For example, when Princess Diana accused him of having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, “what he did was to shrink back and as a result of that became aloof,” Pearce explained. “Well, that doesn’t heal the challenge that’s taking place.”
Pearce said that when reports broke about Prince Harry and Meghan being “troubled” by the ‘lapse of contact”, Pearce wasn’t surprised as “that’s what Charles does”.
“He can’t deal with it because of his sensitivity, so he hides. And what Harry’s trying to do is to heal that. Not out of umbrage, not out of anger or revenge or criticism or accusation…I felt that he was just somebody saying, ‘This is the way that it is, and this is why we want to make change.’”
The comments that Pearce is referring to were made by Prince Harry on his Apple TV+ series with Oprah The Me You Can’t See.
“My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to [Prince] William and I, ‘Well, it was like that for me, so it’s gonna be like that for you.’” he said.
“That doesn’t make sense. Just because you suffered, it doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer. In fact, quite the opposite. If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever experiences, negative experiences that you had, you can make it right for your kids.
”The conversation was said to leave Prince Charles “quite devastated” according to an insider who told Vanity Fair.
“He is such a gentle man and a dedicated father first and foremost. Knowing him, he’ll be feeling wretched and will take no joy or happiness in what’s going on within the family. But he will also want to seek a reconciliation. He is not vindictive at all, and he wants to make peace with Harry.”
This article originally appeared on Over60.