Last week, we learned that Prince Harry made a secret/unannounced trip back to the UK, specifically to attend Robert Fellowes’ funeral. The British media had no idea he was even in the country, and it definitely feels like Prince William and his office spent 48 hours briefing all manner of insanity to their media allies once they learned Harry made a brief visit. I was focused on how Harry visited, and I assumed the trip was quietly facilitated by the Spencers. I even suggested that Harry might have stayed at the Spencers’ estate, Althorp. I was right – People Magazine confirmed that Harry stayed with the Earl Spencer (his uncle Charles) at Althorp during his visit last week. Meanwhile, the Daily Beast’s sources claim that the Spencers are part of the plot to, like, bring Harry “back” and get him to reconcile with his horrid brother.
Friends of Princess Diana’s birth family, the Spencers, have told The Daily Beast that Prince William agreeing to attend Robert Fellowes’ funeral service in the knowledge that Prince Harry would be there has “cast a glimmer of hope in an otherwise deeply depressing impasse.” The clan are also “working hard to get the brothers to reconcile.”
One friend of the Spencers, one of Britain’s oldest and most noble aristocratic families, told The Daily Beast: “It was probably always going to be a funeral that brought the boys together under one roof, and the fact that William didn’t boycott it because Harry was going to be there has cast a glimmer of hope in an otherwise deeply depressing impasse. They both adore Jane [Princess Diana’s elder sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, Robert’s widow], and it’s absolutely right that they were both there out of respect to her. It’s an important recognition of the fact that blood is thicker than water. It’s a mature, promising sign that their private disagreements are not going be allowed to overshadow important family events.”
Another friend and neighbor of the Spencers told The Daily Beast: “Behind the scenes, the Spencers have been working hard to get the brothers to reconcile. They understand William’s hurt at Harry’s betrayal, but they also understand Harry’s position because of the way Diana was treated by the Windsors.”
Referring to Robert’s role as a key advisor and private secretary to the queen in the years before and after Diana’s death, which often set him in opposition to his wife’s birth family, the source said: “Robert and Jane had to navigate between those loyalties their whole life.”
The friend added: “Harry is still very close to his mother’s family. If anyone can mediate between the brothers it will be Jane.”
Both friends said they did not know if Harry had tried to speak to William either in person or by phone after the service for Robert. However, they said they thought it unlikely. It is understood that the most recent communication from Harry—a note wishing Princess Kate a speedy recovery from cancer—went unanswered by William and Kate. Friends of William accuse Harry and his wife Meghan Markle of continuing to deliberately antagonize them, for example by refusing to call the Princess of Wales by her preferred name, Catherine.
“The fact that William didn’t boycott it because Harry was going to be there has cast a glimmer of hope…” Yeah, I have two theories. First theory: William did go to the funeral but he had no idea that Harry would be there, so it wasn’t about “William threatening to boycott.” Second theory: William wasn’t there and this has all been Kensington Palace’s furious retcon. I also don’t really believe that the Spencers care that deeply about William and Harry’s reconciliation. There was a real shift, as William got older and balder, that he became a creature of the institution. He was “Windsorized” in ways that Harry has never been.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.