On Monday, I covered that curious piece in the New York Times, all about the fractured relations between King Charles and Prince Harry. It was framed as “analysis” and two experts were quoted. Peter Hunt basically said that Charles has been screwing up the Sussex situation for years now, and that Charles’s estrangement from Harry will define his reign. Historian Ed Owens called Prince William “work-shy” and also had some even-handed criticism of Charles. What was interesting about that NYT piece is that… the Daily Mail picked it up too and covered some of those quotes. The Daily Beast’s Royalist also suddenly changed his tune and spoke about Charles as a lame-duck monarch, powerless to solve issues within his family. Well, someone at Buckingham Palace decided to clap back. They’re begging people to understand, this whole thing is Harry’s fault! WE SWEAR! It’s all Harry!
As the royals gathered to pay tribute to the wartime generation last week, they were determined to keep their focus firmly on the veterans, despite incoming fire from the Duke of Sussex in California. Just three days before they gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Prince Harry had given an extraordinary interview to the BBC, in which he revealed: “I don’t know how much longer my father has, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile.”
Some insiders believed that with his long-running legal battle against the Home Office over his security concluded, the path may have been clear for a rapprochement of sorts between the King and his son. But after Harry’s latest very public salvo, reconciliation appears to be further away than ever. Referring to his comments that he had forgiven his family’s “involvement” in his situation, saying “my father, my brother and my stepmother, I can forgive,” a former friend tells HELLO!. “He needs the world to forgive him. His family have never bent on their stance, which is that he should not take up issues in public.”
“There is zero trust,” added an insider. “The family feels that private conversations with Harry are not possible.”
Even a source sympathetic to the Duke, told HELLO!: “It’s taken its toll. He sees things everywhere, he picks battles with everybody and that’s tiring. You can’t live in permanent battle mode. You’re a 40-year-old man. You’ve got to stop fighting the world.”
Referring to his comments that he had forgiven his family’s “involvement” in his situation, saying “my father, my brother and my stepmother, I can forgive,” a former friend tells HELLO!. “He needs the world to forgive him. His family have never bent on their stance, which is that he should not take up issues in public.”
“Even a source sympathetic to the Duke” – yeah, sounds like some palace lackey to me. “He picks battles with everybody and that’s tiring. You can’t live in permanent battle mode.” Harry became a late adopter to the mindset: “if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” Besides, it’s not like he’s suing everyone in sight constantly – he’s sued the press and won, and he sued the government and lost. His BBC interview didn’t reveal a man who was gearing up for more battles – he knew he lost, and he knew why he lost, and he was making one final and very public plea to his father. Anyway, Harry was perfectly within his rights and the palace knows this, which is why they’ve been screaming about Harry for the past week and a half and trying to convince everyone that Harry’s to blame for everything.
Also: “There is zero trust. The family feels that private conversations with Harry are not possible.” Harry spoke on the record to the BBC once this month, and there have been dozens of “briefings” from the palace since, all about how Harry shouldn’t reveal this or that. Maybe the palace should do the shutting up? Maybe Harry has trust issues with his father and his father’s chatty courtiers?
Photos courtesy of BBC, Avalon Red and Cover Images.
