On Saturday, Prince Harry’s spokesperson clapped back on an exclusive Sun cover story. The story was all about Harry’s September 10th meeting with his father at Clarence House, and how Harry was surprised by the formality of the meeting, etc – go here to read. Someone had given the Sun a big briefing about the meeting and that someone was not Harry. Harry’s statement said that the Sun’s report was “categorically false. The quotes attributed to him are pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son.” Tom Sykes, on his Royalist Substack, pointed out that Harry is drawing “a line straight back to the top tier of his father’s household.” Sykes names Clive Alderton (Charles’s private secretary) and Tobyn Andreae (comms secretary) as the main culprits. Sykes says that those two are the most likely to feel “threatened” by a reconciliation between father and son. Well, Buckingham Palace has responded to… Harry’s statement. From a Times exclusive:
The palace has been left “saddened and perplexed” by Prince Harry’s latest claim that the institution is “sabotaging” the relationship with his father, the King.
The Duke of Sussex appeared to accuse courtiers of leaking information about a meeting with his father this month, amid reports that the prince had claimed “men in grey suits”, were responsible.
The news has been met with disappointment by friends of the King.
A royal source said: “The reality is that senior aides have been working behind the scenes to improve what is a delicate but important private family relationship.”
On September 10 the duke saw the King for what was described as “a private tea” at Clarence House. The 50-minute meeting was the first time that the King had met with his younger son for 19 months. Afterwards, the duke appeared relaxed, telling guests at a charity reception in London that his father was “great”.
This is gaslighting. It’s also yet another example of why this family is so screwed up. There’s absolutely no reason for “senior aides” to work diligently to improve a father’s relationship with his son. That’s between Charles and Harry. It was always between Charles and Harry, despite the efforts of those SAME senior aides working diligently to sow divisions and mistrust between Charles and Harry, which they’re still doing by leaking details of a private meeting to the Sun. Anyway, it sounds more like Charles’s senior aides are “saddened and perplexed” by Harry’s refusal to allow them to lie and sabotage behind-the-scenes.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
