King Charles and Prince William erupted into “torrents of profanity” after hearing comments from Donald Trump about Kate Middleton’s 2012 topless photo scandal, a new biography revealed this week.
Kate, then the Duchess of Cambridge, was infamously photographed that year sunbathing topless on private property in France while vacationing with her husband, Prince William.
The pictures were subsequently published in the French tabloid Closer, eliciting titillation and outcry in equal measure.
“Kate Middleton is great – but she shouldn’t be sunbathing in the nude – only herself to blame,” Trump tweeted at the time. “Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing? Come on Kate!”
According to excerpts of the upcoming biography “The King: The Life of Charles III” by Christopher Andersen obtained by Newsweek, Trump’s dig at Kate “resulted in what one Clarence House butler referred to as ‘torrents of profanity’ from both Prince Charles and his sons.”
Years later, in 2019, Charles, then Prince of Wales, was allegedly “disappointed” when Trump referred to him in a tweet as the “Prince of Whales,” spelled like the sea mammal as opposed to the country.
Andersen, the best-selling author of “The Day Diana Died,” writes that Trump’s prior assertion that he “could have ‘nailed [Princess Diana] if I wanted to,’ but only if she passed an HIV test” certainly did not help Charles’ opinion of him.
When then-President Trump said that there were “very fine people on both sides” after the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, both Charles and Princes William and Harry “burned up the phone lines between Clarence House and Kensington Palace” trying to discourage Trump’s planned visit to the UK, which ultimately did not take place.
“Throughout 2017 and into 2018, Britons seemed nearly as fascinated with the tweet-storming Trump as their American cousins. The royal family was no exception,” Andersen writes. “At every opportunity, including Prince Harry’s wedding reception, Charles took his wealthy and influential American friends aside and gently prodded them for information.”
Even so, it was important that Charles not push his acquaintances from across the pond too hard — since some of the donors to his charities, “including those with the deepest pockets, were Trump supporters.”
Set for publication on Nov. 8, Andersen’s book will debut exactly two months after the death of King Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II. At 73, Charles was the longest-serving heir apparent and the oldest person to ascend the British throne.
“The King” will also hit shelves before Prince Harry’s much-anticipated memoir “Spare,” which will be published on Jan. 10. Page Six previously revealed that the royal family is “hugely nervous” about the book, which is expected to spill the gory details about life inside the world’s most famous family.
