Revealed: Why Charles called BBC Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell ‘that bloody man’ during infamous 2005 hot mic outburst

Retired BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell has revealed that Charles hasn’t spoken to him for ‘years’ after a story he wrote enraged the then-future king – and sparked those famous hot mic comments.

The veteran royal correspondent, who steps down next year, was the target of the then Prince of Wales’s annoyance during a photo shoot with William and Harry in the Swiss Alps in 2005, just eight days before Charles was due to marry Queen Camilla.

The then-Prince of Wales was angry when Witchell asked him how he felt about his upcoming wedding, prompting the future monarch to say quietly, “Bloody people.” I can’t stand that man. I mean, he’s so terrible, he really is.’

In an interview with Sunday times, the journalist has now explained exactly why Charles was so angry, saying that a piece he had written about a holiday he took with Camilla on a friend’s yacht had fueled the anger.

He said: ‘I had likened it to holidays taken by a former Prince of Wales [Edward VIII] with his mistress [Wallis Simpson], and I know he really didn’t like that. He was very angry.’

The ex-BBC man revealed that Charles stopped speaking to him for several years, something the journalist said did not hurt his career as it proved he was not ‘blowing smoke into the back of the royal family’.

Witchell said he and the monarch were eventually reconciled, and the king had even become patron of the Normandy Memorial Trust, which the journalist co-founded.

Earlier this year, Witchell revealed he was ‘shocked’ when he realized exactly what Charles had said about him in 2005. He said his question to the royal family had gone ‘terribly wrong’, adding: ‘I was shocked, but to be completely honest ‘we’re all mumbling under our breath, aren’t we?’

King Charles with his arms around Prince William and Prince Harry during the royal family’s skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland on March 31, 2005

The journalist, who has been reporting on the royal family since 1998, announced last week that he will retire next year.

He joined the broadcaster in 1976 as a graduate news intern.

King Charles had been on holiday at the Klosters resort when he was contacted by Mr Witchell, who asked: ‘May I ask how you and Princes William and Harry feel about the prospect of marriage?’

Speak with The Telegraphthe journalist said he hoped with his question that Prince Harry and William would ‘endorse the wedding’.

“But it just went terribly wrong,” he said.

Witchell has admitted he was ‘shocked’ when King Charles called him ‘terrible’ during a now infamous TV interview

‘People were not in the best mood that morning. It actually sounds like the most idiotic and pathetic question: “What do you think of the wedding?”

‘But if you unpack that a bit, as the then Prince of Wales did straight away… I could see his face change color slightly.’

Charles initially interrupted him before Mr. Witchell had completed his question, saying, “You’ve heard of it, haven’t you?”

William said politely: “Very happy, very satisfied. It’s going to be a good day.’

Before Charles began his tirade, he said again, “I’m really glad you heard about it.”

Aides suggested Charles was annoyed because William and Kate Middleton – then the prince’s girlfriend – had been photographed the previous day.

Paddy Harverson, Charles’ press secretary at the time, said: ‘We recognize that we cannot stop photographers from taking these photographs, but we hope every year that they will respect the privacy of family and friends and their need for a private holiday.’

In 2005, Prince Charles – as he then was – famously insulted the BBC’s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell

Harverson later said: “Nicholas was in the line of fire when the prince expressed his general frustration with the paparazzi and it boiled over at the first person who asked a question,” he said.

‘It wasn’t personal. He regrets saying it. He really didn’t mean to take it out on Nicholas.’

Mr Witchell said this weekend that Charles had not apologized, but he had not expected to either.

He said there was “no contact” between the pair for “a number of years” before they had a “rapprochement” in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Witchell broadcast the confirmed news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on August 31, 1997, and provided live radio commentary from outside Westminster Abbey at her funeral.

The 70-year-old first joined the BBC after completing a law degree at the University of Leeds, and later became a BBC reporter in Northern Ireland in 1979, where he covered the murder of Earl Mountbatten, among other things and the IRA hunger strikes.