At the beginning of the year, there had been renewed hope that Prince Harry and King Charles could be set to mend their fractured relationship – but in recent months it seems their bond might be as fragile as ever
At the beginning of the year as 2024 dawned, there was an optimistic air about a possible reconciliation between Prince Harry and King Charles.
On Charles’ 75th birthday last November, the pair shared a warm phone call and when the King announced his cancer diagnosis in February, Harry dashed to be at his father’s side, albeit for just 30 minutes.
After, Harry talked about being grateful to see his father and hinted he had more trips to the UK on the horizon where he would see his family during an interview on US morning TV.
However, six months on from that visit, father and son have not been reunited. In fact, the bond between the pair appears to have reached breaking point with a series of stumbling blocks standing in the way of repairing their fractured bond…
After the father and son met up in February in the wake of Charles’ cancer news, many predicted another meeting between the estranged duo. It came as Harry visited the UK to attend a service at St Paul’s Cathedral for the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games on the same day the King was also in London – but in the end, there was no meeting between the pair.
This raised eyebrows at the time, with a statement from Harry suggesting his father was too busy to see him and reports later claiming the King had offered his son a place to stay at Buckingham Palace during his whistlestop visit to London. A source told The Times: “I don’t know what more the King could have done.
He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but that it seems even that wasn’t good enough. It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.”
Stumbling block
After this, last month, sources close to the Sussexes claimed that Harry’s calls to his dad are going unanswered as he tries to discuss his security arrangements with his father. The Duke has been embroiled in a long-running battle over his security when he comes to the UK after he automatically lost the right to his police protection when he stepped down as a working royal.
He has lost his subsequent court battles to have it reinstated for him, wife Meghan and their two children and is planning an appeal. According to PEOPLE magazine, Harry believes his dad could help to have this reinstated, although this has been dismissed as “wholly inaccurate” by a palace source.
And a friend of Harry’s told the magazine: “He gets ‘unavailable right now’. His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King’s health, but those calls go unanswered too.” While another friend added: “Harry is frightened and feels the only person who can do anything about it is his father,” while another source added: “Harry is determined to protect his own family at all costs.”
They added that the couple “didn’t feel they had a choice”. “The only option was to leave – for their sanity. I do think they thought if they got out of this bubble, there would be less focus on them,” the insider said.
‘Frustrated battle’
Later a source close to the King told the Sunday Times that the monarch wanted no involvement with Harry’s case about his security with the Home Office. They said: “His Majesty’s son is suing His Majesty’s government, and that is very tricky for the King. If they were to meet, there is a worry that son would lobby father because of the mistaken belief that the King has control over his security. For him not to have accepted the judgment of His Majesty’s government and courts is frustrating.”
Meanwhile, another friend of Charles explained how if the King or other members of the family chatted with Harry, there is always the fear that the contents of their conversation would end up in another memoir or documentary.
Spiritual advice
Despite reports that the pair are barely speaking, new claims at the weekend emerged that Charles is desperate to bury the hatchet with his son after reportedly taking advice from religious leaders. Charles, who as monarch is the head of the Church of England, “misses his son and his faith Harry could return,” a source told Daily Mail.
Since the Coronation, Charles has sought “spiritual nourishment” from religious leaders, it’s said. Those religious advisors appear to be encouraging reconciliation with his estranged son, according to the newspaper.
The insider explained: “Charles misses his son. He still loves Harry and wants him back for personal reasons – regardless that he and Meghan do not [want to] return to royal life. Harry will always be Charles’s much-loved son. He has faith that Harry could return. He misses the bond they once had, and the door will always remain open to him and his family. He does not want years of discord and disharmony clouding his reign.”
Olive branch?
Meanwhile, just this week news emerged about what could be seen as a potential olive branch from Harry to his dad regarding his controversial memoir, Spare.
The Duke of Sussex used the tell-all book to make various claims about his family including that Prince William called his wife Meghan Markle ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’ and pushed him into a dog bowl, that King Charles was jealous of the Prince and Princess of Wales and that Charles refused to allow Meghan to join her husband in Scotland as the late Queen was dying.
The memoir was released in January 2023 but since that time, Harry appears to have decided against criticising his royal relatives in public. However, now there’s a fresh update on the book. It has been announced by publisher Penguin that Spare will be re-released in two month’s time in a paperback version. Usually, when a paperback version of a non-fiction book is released, additional chapters or updated information is included in the new format.
However, in what has been seen as a potential olive branch to Charles, William and the rest of the royals, the paperback version of Spare will not contain any new information. It will have the same cover image in a newly designed package, however, the “contents of the book are unchanged”.
Truce threatened
However, royal historian and expert Dr Tessa Dunlop disagrees with those who believe that the absence of new information is a potential olive branch from Harry to his royal relatives – and that it actually might make relations between the two worse.
She told The Mirror: “Those who suggest that this paperback release, with no additional material, is an olive branch, are sadly mistaken. New material can be conciliatory, Harry might have taken the lead and opened with a different prologue, fore-fronting his regret about how things turned out, and reiterating his good wishes for Kate and the King.
“That he has decided to stay shtum is indicative of the cold war which persists within the Royal Family. On the eve of his 40th birthday, there is little sign of a reconciliation. The uncomfortable stalemate persists. My hunch is that deep down Harry regrets some of what he has written, but like so many men, he is way too proud to admit it.”