Prince Harry’s 40th birthday was last Sunday. Not only did he get happy-birthday messages from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace’s social media accounts, a wide array of charities and NGOs also publicly wished him a happy birthday. I also kind of thought that we would hear more about his birthday throughout the week, and not from the Sussexes’ team. Meaning, I thought Buckingham Palace would be itching to brief the papers about King Charles calling his “darling boy” and something about their chat. Instead, only Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair got some kind of vague confirmation that a call *probably* happened. Good new or bad news? It means Harry’s not leaking anything.
Aides have refused to comment on whether the king spoke to his son over the weekend when Harry was celebrating, but sources close to Charles insist he would have talked to Harry on his birthday.
“Usually it’s the case that when a birthday has a zero in it, then that milestone is marked with a social media post,” says one royal insider. “It was always the king’s intention to publicly acknowledge his son’s 40th, and I am sure that the king will have spoken to Harry on his birthday. After all, it is his son, and whatever has happened, Charles loves Harry unconditionally as any parent does, and Sunday was an important day.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales also took to social media to wish Harry a happy birthday. “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to the Duke of Sussex!’” However, according to insiders, the estranged brothers are not on speaking terms following the damaging allegations about their relationship in Harry’s autobiography. According to one source: “It’s going to take more than Harry turning 40 to soften the rift between the two of them.”
Yet there is more optimism regarding Harry’s relationship with his father, who is said to be “hopeful” of getting his relationship with his youngest son back on track. According to a source close to the king: “Charles would like relations to be better and he’s curious to see how things will evolve. Harry has to regain some of the trust that has been shattered first, though.”
The king, who was seen attending a church service in Scotland on his son’s 40th birthday, is said to be relieved that Harry’s updated paperback edition of Spare does not include any new chapters or material that might have proven embarrassing to the royal family, and following their one-on-one meeting in February, when Harry flew to the UK to see Charles following his cancer diagnosis, relations are said to have improved.
“They do speak on the phone. Charles wants to know what’s going on in Harry’s life and hear about the children, but he’s guarded because Harry has breached the trust between them on a number of occasions. Charles needs to know their private conversations remain just that. Private.”
I actually think Harry has kept their conversations private in recent years, but William leaks like a sieve, especially when he’s incandescent with rage whenever Harry and Charles might be close to burying some kind of hatchet. You also have to understand, Camilla doesn’t want Charles and Harry to reconcile, and the courtiers don’t want it either. Charles is surrounded by people who have a vested interest in keeping him estranged from his sons. It makes Charles more malleable.
Incidentally, all of this energy towards Harry’s 40th birthday reminded of his birthday last year, which he celebrated in Germany, at the Invictus Games. Harry celebrated with Meghan, their Archewell team and some of the Invictus people. The British media made a huge deal about how Charles and William refused to speak to Harry last year, mostly because Chaz and Huevo were seething with jealousy that the Invictus Games were dominating international headlines. Long story short, Charles is a dogsh-t father who only makes a point of calling his son on “major” birthdays.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.