Early Sunday morning, the @RoyalFamily social media accounts wished Prince Harry a happy 40th birthday. Those are the accounts for Buckingham Palace, as in King Charles. Soon afterwards, the @KensingtonRoyal account quote-tweeted BP’s post with their own mundane happy birthday message to Harry. While this was unexpected, it was also unremarkable. Prince William hates Harry and wants to wear Harry’s skin as his own, and William spent a full month trashing Harry before Harry’s birthday, so the b-day wishes felt like yet another lie from William and his office. So, what does it all mean? Palace sources are telling the Daily Beast’s Royalist what was really behind the moves.
Prince William has “no interest” in restoring contact with Prince Harry, friends of his and wife Kate Middleton have told The Daily Beast, despite the couple yesterday sending birthday wishes to Harry on social media.
The friend of William and Kate’s told The Daily Beast: “The honest truth is that William has no interest right now in reaching out to Harry and Meghan. He regards what Harry said in his book (i.e. his memoir, Spare) as unforgivable and, understandably given Catherine’s cancer diagnosis, just wants to focus on his wife and family first and his job second. There isn’t space for a complicated reconciliation process with Harry. It’s not a priority.”
The palace has not said whether Charles contacted Harry on his birthday, but it is understood William and Kate did not reach out in person. William’s, Harry’s and Charles’ offices did not comment in response to queries from The Daily Beast but an official source in the king’s office sought to downplay the significance of the message sent by the king.
They said that the palace “sometimes posted for landmark birthdays of non-working royals” adding that “generally” non-landmark birthdays are not the subject of social media posts. The decidedly chilly clarifications emerging from royal camps today will serve to pour cold water on hopes that the brothers could be reconciled, and raise questions as to why the royals bothered to send the messages if they did not, after all, herald an honest attempt to build bridges with Harry.
One palace insider pointed out that that message sent on Sunday had not been initialed “W & C” meaning it had not been sent personally by the couple. The source added: “It was just a company thing. Happy birthday blah blah blah.”
Asked why William and Kate had allowed the message to be sent from their account if they did not really mean it, the source said, “It makes sense for Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace to align themselves on a little bit of essentially routine messaging around Harry. It shows William is willing to respect his father’s seniority and do what is asked of him.”
A friend of the king’s said, “The king has made it very clear that he loves Harry and wants to be part of his and his family’s life. Publicly wishing him a happy 40th birthday is completely of a piece with that ambition.”
“It shows William is willing to respect his father’s seniority and do what is asked of him.” As I said on Sunday, there were meetings about the social media posts. Buckingham Palace explicitly ordered Kensington Palace to publicly wish Harry a happy birthday and KP agreed, begrudgingly. But the energy has sort of shifted all around now – is it possible that Charles and Harry’s phone call didn’t go well? Is it possible that Harry didn’t even care that much about his father’s call, especially given that Charles has been refusing to speak to him for months?
As for this – “The honest truth is that William has no interest right now in reaching out to Harry and Meghan…” It’s always William rushing out to declare that he hates his brother, that he has no interest in speaking to Harry, that William is the “decider.” No one acknowledges that Harry has likely only texted or sent a message to his brother once or twice since QEII’s death. Harry also has “no interest” in speaking to his a–hole brother.
Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex! https://t.co/ZKJbYDmV6L
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) September 15, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.