By now, everyone knows that Prince Harry met his father at Clarence House one week ago. Royal reporters have ranted, raved and openly threatened Harry: speak one word about the meeting, and the king will never speak to you again! Those reporters have been told those instructions in (you guessed it) briefings from King Charles’s office. Charles wants to control the narrative around the meeting entirely. Well, unsurprisingly, that control extends to American media. It looks like Us Weekly and People Magazine both got talking points from the palace. From People’s exclusive:
Harry & Charles’s meeting: [Last week’s trip] was a far cry from the Harry, 41, seen on recent visits, when court appearances and legal battles overshadowed everything else. This was not the Duke of Sussex under scrutiny, but the Harry people remembered — approachable, playful, in his element. And on the rainy afternoon of Sept. 10, that same energy carried him through the gates of Clarence House, where he disappeared inside for a long-awaited, private meeting with his father, King Charles. Fifty-three minutes later, he emerged — a historic and emotional encounter behind him, and the fragile possibility of reconciliation ahead. “It’s a massive step in the right direction,” Queen Elizabeth’s former spokeswoman Ailsa Anderson tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “It’s a building of trust.”
A starting point: At stake wasn’t just Harry’s connection with his father, Charles, but also his relationship with his brother Prince William, which remains a thorny and unresolved part of the family story. While the encounter marked a hopeful step forward, royal insiders caution that a long road lies ahead before full reconciliation can take place. “It shows the way forward,” acknowledges an insider with ties to both sides. “It is a good starting point.”
The whole reason why Charles met with Harry: In May, hours after losing his legal battle with the U.K. government over the removal of his official, all-encompassing security, Harry made blunt public comments about how the King wouldn’t speak to him, even saying he had no idea “how much longer my father has.” Those remarks stung many in the U.K. — both inside and outside the palace.
Harry better not speak!! Close observers of the family dynamic will be paying careful attention to what happens next. Much of the focus will be on whether Harry chooses to speak publicly about the meeting with his father. “If we hear nothing, there will be another meeting. If we hear something, it will be a very long time before there is one,” says Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, tempering much of the excitement. Adds historian Robert Lacey: “It is going to have to be handled with care, as the palace sees it, for the foreseeable future. There’s no reason why, in theory, everything should be on an even keel, but it could go the other way, too.”
Camilla’s absence at the meeting: Understanding appears to be building, however. The last time father and son met, just after Charles announced his cancer diagnosis, Queen Camilla had been in the room with them — but she did not accompany her husband to London for this trip. “The fact that Camilla wasn’t there – when she was before — would show that Harry has signaled something to him that he could be trusted one-on-one,” royal author Sally Bedell Smith points out.
Something curious: the February 2024 meeting between father and son has been completely rewritten before our eyes. Harry received police protection for that 24-hour visit, there was a police escort waiting for him at Heathrow. Meaning, Charles actually wanted him there, and wanted to see him. Initially, we were told that father and son met alone, and then Camilla called up all of her media allies and insisted that she was in the room too. I still don’t believe that. Just as I believe that Charles purposefully didn’t include Cam in last week’s meeting as well. Anyway, I’m very curious to see what happens next. Will Charles actually make the bold step of inviting the Sussex family to visit?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
