Relations between Prince Harry and his father have sunk to a new nadir in the increasingly vituperative row over Harry’s security.
Friends of King Charles III told The Daily Beast Prince Harry is using “emotional blackmail” by dangling the threat of the king never again meeting his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet. They alleged that Harry is trying to put pressure on 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.”
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The blistering back and forth represents the latest salvo in Harry’s long running battle with the U.K. government over his security status.
He was stripped by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC) of the right to automatic police protection when on U.K. soil when he quit the working royal family. His offer to pay for any such protection himself was rejected on the grounds that armed British police are not available for hire.
Harry has lost round after round of the case seeking to have those privileges restored, and is currently squaring up for a last chance to appeal the excoriating rulings which have consistently gone against him.
It is thought he has spent well over a million dollars on the case.
The issue burst into the open again last week when Harry claimed in a television interview that his wife Meghan Markle could not safely return to the U.K., and that he feared her being the target of an acid or knife attack triggered by negative tabloid coverage of her.
His remarks did not directly mention his children, but Harry has made it clear in the past that he also considers them targets. They have often been the target, along with Meghan, of deeply disturbing racist abuse.
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.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk in front of the City Hall as they attend the event 'One year to go' ahead of the 2023 Invictus Games in Duesseldorf, Germany, September 6, 2022.
Benjamin Westhoff/ReutersThe source, an old family friend of several generations of royals, added: “I wonder, when they are older, how those kids will feel about being denied a meaningful relationship with the King of England. To deprive them of that experience, with all its importance and heritage, seems very misguided. Of course he wants to see them, but if you force Charles to choose between his duty to the Crown and his personal feelings, he will choose the Crown every time—just as his mother did.”
Another friend, a contemporary of the William and Harry generation of royals who used to be friendly with both brothers but is now loyal to William said: “When Harry was being kicked out of Frogmore Cottage, one of his lines was that Charles would never see the kids again. This is him going public with that threat.”
When it was pointed out to the source that Harry didn’t mention his children in the TV interview, they replied, “It was clearly implied. This really isn’t about Meghan, who has no intention of ever coming back to England again.”
The last time Charles saw Archie, now 5, and Lilibet, now 3, was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
King Charles was recently said to be dissatisfied with only knowing his grandchildren via video calls.
A source speaking to U.K. tabloid the Mirror said: “The king is absolutely committed to being present in all of his grandchildren’s lives. He values family above everything and whatever the course of his relationship with his son, he would never be content with just seeing his grandchildren on the odd video call.”
However, the source close to Harry told The Daily Beast: “Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life. He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats. While his role within the institution has changed, his profile as a member of the royal family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that security cannot replicate the necessary police protection whilst in the U.K. The Duke remains willing to cover the cost of security, as not to impose on the British taxpayer. As is widely known, others who have left public office and have inherent threat risk receive police protection at no cost to them. The goal for Prince Harry has been simple—to ensure the safety of himself and his family while in the UK so his children can know his home country.”
Charles and Harry’s offices declined to comment.
Another source, a Palace insider, told The Daily Beast: “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.”
Prince Harry has been embroiled in the protracted legal dispute with the U.K. government over his security status since stepping down as a senior working royal.
King Charles III visits Aberdeen Town House to meet families who have settled in Aberdeen from Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Oct. 17, 2022.
Jane Barlow/Pool via ReutersIn 2020, following his and Meghan’s decision to step back from royal duties and relocate to the United States, Harry was stripped of his right to automatic police protection on U.K. soil. Harry argues that his high-profile status and the potential threats against him and his family necessitate protection.
In the recent television interview, Harry conflated the issue with what he sees as unfair and incendiary coverage of his family in the U.K. tabloid press, saying: “All it takes is for one lone actor who reads this stuff to act on what they’ve read. And whether it’s a knife or acid, these are things that are genuine concerns for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
As The Daily Beast reported at the time, Omid Scobie in his book Endgame said Harry allegedly said to his father—when told to leave his and Meghan's British home of Frogmore Cottage—“Don’t you want to see your grandchildren again?”
Scobie, who is known to be sympathetic to the Sussexes, called the decision from Charles to evict Harry “a cheap shot from a wounded father bound by an institutional system that is often intolerant of human emotion.”
