PRINCE Harry gave Charles just 20 minutes’ notice before launching an attack on the media that “crushed” his dad’s vital Middle East tour.
A bombshell biography reveals Harry, 35, knew it would “all but eliminate coverage” of Charles’ diplomatic summit with the King of Bahrain.
The timing of the November 2016 statement, “much of it drafted by Harry himself”, meant it “dominated the news cycle”.
In it, he lashed out at the media for “racial overtones” in its reporting on Meghan.
Meanwhile, Charles was finishing an important and delicate Middle East tour in Bahrain where the UK has its biggest overseas naval base.
Royal authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claim: “The team at Clarence House, which had spent months putting together Prince Charles’ tour in the hopes that it would be covered significantly, was crushed.”
Harry’s statement marked his and Meghan’s first major shot across the Royal Family’s bows.
The salvo showed they were determined to break with centuries of protocol to do things their way.
It set the couple on a collision course with courtiers and senior royals. And it paved the way for “Megxit”, when they left royal life this year.
‘POISED FOR OUTRIGHT WAR’
Scobie and Durand say the fiery statement came after “sensitive” Harry began to lash out at anyone who “questioned his new relationship”.
The authors, dubbed “cheerleaders” of the couple, write: “He would wonder, ‘Is this about race? Is it snobbery?’
“An old friend of Harry’s spent an afternoon gossiping about Meghan, making disparaging remarks about her Hollywood background.
“Word got back to Harry, and the prince immediately cut him off.