In his interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry said his relationship with his dad hit a nadir when King Charles stopped taking his calls.
He said in the same interview that the relationship subsequently improved and that telephone contact had been restored—but now it seems that things are as bad, or worse than they ever were.
For, once again, Harry is unable to reach his father by phone.
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The shocking allegation was made by sources sympathetic to Harry to People magazine, which quoted a friend of Harry’s as saying: “He gets ‘unavailable right now.’ His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King’s health, but those calls go unanswered too.”
The magazine said that the current non-speaking terms are related to Harry’s anger and fear over not receiving automatic police protection while in the U.K. Harry thinks that his father could use his influence to get the royal security committee, RAVEC, to reinstate his cover.
Buckingham Palace denies the king has such power, although one source told The Daily Beast this week that the king could indeed insist Harry received such protection were he minded to.
A source told People: “Harry is frightened [for the safety of his family] and feels the only person who can do anything about it is his father,” while another source said: “Harry is determined to protect his own family at all costs.”
The issue has resulted in “complete silence” from the king, claims the friend.
Sources in Harry’s camp suggested that Charles was jealous of Harry, adding: “Charles’ fear is a repeat of the past. When his wife divorced the institution, she took the headlines, overshadowed his work and became a global superstar. Seeing his son leave with his wife was not part of the plan.”
The People report, citing “multiple well-placed insiders” will be seen by observers as a highly credible account of how Harry sees things due to People magazine’s contacts within the Sussex organization. The magazine’s royal reporter, Simon Perry, was recently chosen by the Sussexes to be the only journalist to accompany them on their quasi-royal tour of Nigeria.
The apparent briefing to the magazine comes after friends of King Charles III told The Daily Beast this week that Harry was withholding access to his kids to “emotionally blackmail” the monarch to use his influence to get Harry and his family automatic security while in the U.K.
However, a source close to Harry rejected that notion, telling The Daily Beast that vile “neo-Nazi and extremist” threats to Harry were very real, and that one of the main reasons the prince wanted U.K. police security was so his children could get to “know his home country.” The source pointed out that Harry had even offered “to cover the cost of security, so as not to impose on the British taxpayer.”
Harry speaking to ITV documentary, Tabloids on Trial.'
ITVLast week Harry claimed in a television interview that his wife Meghan Markle could be the target of an acid or knife attack triggered by negative tabloid coverage of her.
However, one friend of the king told The Daily Beast: “Harry has lost his security case in court, and is now trying the emotional blackmail route to get what he wants instead, cynically using the threat of Archie and Lilibet never meeting their grandfather again as a tactic to coerce the king into overruling RAVEC.
“The idea that the security forces are going to allow the Sussexes to be attacked by an acid-throwing or knife-wielding maniac on British soil is absurd, and Harry knows it. Using it as leverage, as a reason to withhold his kids from their grandfather, is beyond contempt. Charles is being treated for very serious cancer, so even if he could find the time, he cannot just fly to Los Angeles at the drop of a hat, like Harry can—and actually did earlier this year—in the other direction.”
Another source, a Palace insider, told The Daily Beast earlier this week: “The whole affair is totally fascinating. I think Harry needs to ask himself why Charles hasn’t overruled RAVEC, which, for all the insistence that he couldn’t, he could, being the king and all. It’s because the last thing the Palace want is Harry and Meghan turning up unannounced on a regular basis or setting up a rival royal court in the U.K.
“As things stand now, they have to give 28 days notice when they are coming and essentially need to pre-agree with the cops where they are going to be, or might be, at all times. That suits the Palace down to the ground.”
