Reports of an imminent reconciliation meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry have been greatly exaggerated, a friend of Charles has told The Daily Beast.
Despite the fact that Charles has made it clear that, as courtiers are always at pains to insist, he “loves both his sons” the idea that Charles is going to sit down for a cup of Earl Grey with Meghan and Harry before the coronation, as suggested in reports this weekend, has friends of the king and queen doubtfully shaking their heads.
“It’s wishful thinking,” one friend of the couple told The Daily Beast.
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Trust of Harry by the royal institution after the devastating allegations in Spare is at approximately zero, not helped by the implicit threats he has made to release more material— Harry said in an interview with the Telegraph that he could have written “two books”—and the fact that confidential meetings were detailed in his memoir.
Indeed the book opens with a detailed account of a “secret” meeting with Charles and William, called by Harry, in a graveyard, after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
It’s hard to see how Charles could attend a private meeting with his youngest son (or indeed write to or even call him) without assuming notes were being taken—and might well later be served up to the public in a sequel to the best-selling book.
While most informed observers still generally expect Harry and Meghan to receive an invite to the coronation, there is considerable doubt, to put it mildly, about the chances of a pre-coronation sit-down.
The speculation about a reconciliation meeting was triggered by an article in The Sunday Times this weekend by the respected and well-informed royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah.
Nikkhah, citing a “royal source, who has the King’s ear and who knows the Sussexes well” said the source believed a reconciliation meeting would take place before the coronation on Saturday, May 6.
“It’s going to take flexibility on all sides, but it can be done, it’s fixable…It needs Harry over here, in the room with the king and Prince of Wales, a couple of other family members, some of ‘his people’ he trusts who always had his back, so he doesn’t think he’s being ambushed. Someone like Elf [Ed Lane Fox, Harry’s former private secretary] and Christopher [Lord Geidt, the late Queen’s former private secretary who advised the Sussexes].
“Both sides need to hold their hands up and admit we didn’t get everything right, and we got a lot wrong, and we have to say to him ‘we understand the pain you’ve been through’. The king can do it.”
Headline writers may have been less cautious, but Nikkhah herself studiously avoided saying that such a meeting was actually being planned, and added that other parties in the palace were advocating the exactly opposite strategy, namely a “least said, soonest mended” approach.
She also pointed out that William is “burning” with anger over Harry’s book, suggesting it would be a stretch to see Harry and William meet up for a chat, although the same source pushed back against that interpretation, saying they believed William would indeed sit down with Harry if it was in the interests of the nation.
The story in The Sunday Times was fascinating to seasoned observers not so much because what the source suggested may (or may not) come to pass, but because it shows clear evidence of factionalism in the court of King Charles. There is, we must assume, a voluble group within the palace who want Charles to seek peace with Harry.
Derided as “palace wets” by GB News presenter Dan Wootton, the theme was also taken up by author Tom Bower, who said that at a recent dinner party Charles had expressed a reluctance to confront and admonish Harry. (Both Wootton and Bower are relentless critics of Harry and Meghan.)
Bower urged him to act more harshly. Charles is unlikely to do so; confronting Harry and escalating the row might please Bower, but it would delight the publishers of Harry’s book.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (L), Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (2nd L), Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (3rd L), Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (3rd R), Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (2nd R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (R) depart Westminster Abbey after attending the annual Commonwealth Service in London on March 9, 2020.
PHIL HARRIS/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesThe sense that warring parties in the palace might be flying kites was reinforced by a story in the Sun which sought to slap down The Sunday Times story about a reconciliation meeting, with a source saying: “There has been no conversations or contact.” And a source told The Daily Beast’s Clive Irving: “Silence is the only course open to them, and it has been effective so far, in that now, at last, at least over here, the story is subsiding. The king is genuinely fond of his son, and wishes to keep the door open for him. By not responding he does not fuel the argument.”
Irving’s source captures accurately the Royalist’s understanding of the mood at the palace (Charles’ office declined to comment for this article, as did Harry’s) where, The Daily Beast understands, the original decision to say nothing and not engage with the Sussexes, is being seen as having been borne out by events to be correct.
If anything, the do-nothing position is hardening. It’s not hard to see why when the other options are so unpalatable: setting up a peace summit with Harry or aggressively cutting him out of the family by, for example, stripping him of his titles, could both easily serve to oxygenate the inferno rather than smother it.
Much better to just keep on keeping on, runs the thinking of many. As one insider told The Daily Beast last week, it’s about letting actions speak louder than words.
Public support for Meghan and Harry appears mixed. The memoir has been a runaway bestseller—on Tuesday it was announced as the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book. However, in polling, support for Harry has plummeted while support for Charles and Camilla has taken only a very minor knock, according to YouGov. Harry and Meghan’s numbers are slipping across the board and incredibly, over-65s in the U.K. now have a lower opinion of Harry than they do of Prince Andrew.
Harry may want an apology, but there is no indication that Charles is feeling under any pressure to provide one. But Harry has now painted himself into a corner by suggesting he won’t come to the coronation without an apology.
He probably shouldn’t hold his breath.
