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Royal peace talks with Prince Harry are not on the agenda, contrary to what some reports have claimed, The Daily Beast can reveal.
Royal insiders and friends of King Charles and Prince William have scoffed at reports that the king will sit down for talks with Prince Harry on Sept. 17.
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Buckingham Palace insiders dismissed the reports, and a friend of the king’s said that while they believed the king would always want to keep the door open to a reconciliation with Harry, they did not think a physical meeting would take place just three days before the king is due to make an important state visit to France.
A friend of Prince William said that even if Charles was of a mind to meet up with Harry—who, according to a report in Britain’s OK! magazine, was planning to stop over in the U.K. after attending the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf—there was “no chance” that William would agree to a tête-à-tête with Harry.
Details of their last three-way “secret” meeting, called by Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral, ended up as the opening scene of Harry’s memoir, Spare.
In the book, Harry wrote: “I’d flown home specifically and solely for my Grandpa’s funeral. While there I’d asked for this secret meeting with my older brother, Willy, and my father to talk about the state of things.”
In the opening section of the hit memoir, Harry said William and Charles had come to the meeting in a royal graveyard in Windsor “ready for a fight,” called William his “arch-nemesis,” and added that “Willy in particular didn’t want to hear anything” and that Charles begged his sons, “Please, boys, don’t make my final years a misery.”
The friend of William told The Daily Beast: “Charles won’t be seeing Harry and nor will William. No chance. He feels utterly betrayed by what Harry wrote about him in the book and said about him on Netflix.”
Asked if William hated his brother, as a source previously told The Daily Beast, the friend said: “He feels betrayed. They were very close growing up so it has been very painful for William. But ultimately what can he do? Just look at Spare. It’s literally William’s worst nightmare. It is a total violation of his privacy. On top of that, Harry has criticized Kate and the way he is bringing up his children. It’s very, very sad. I think it is completely understandable that right now William is still absolutely disgusted by what his brother has done.”
William’s friends have consistently characterized William as taking an uncompromising stance toward the brother he firmly believes has betrayed him. Friends of the late Queen Elizabeth have also expressed their dismay at Harry’s bitter swipes against the monarchy in the final years of her life, when the family knew she was unwell and close to death. But friends of the new king and queen have sought to express a more conciliatory tone.
This much was evident talking to friends of the king on Monday, even as they dismissed reports of a potential meeting that emerged this weekend.
OK! magazine quoted a source who said: “The king has a rescheduled official visit to France on Sept. 20 so has a few days to spare in London to meet with his son. Staff are trying to fine-tune the details as we speak.”
However, a friend who spoke to The Daily Beast brushed aside the claims while reiterating what seems to have become a default response among the king’s circle, saying: “The king loves both his sons and his door is always open to Harry. But I don’t think they will be meeting on Sept. 17. The king will be preparing for the state visit to France.”
Recent reports have suggested that while the late Queen Elizabeth continued to hope for a reconciliation with Harry that might lead to his return to the royal family, and was therefore reluctant to strip him of privileges that he might see as a snub, Charles has accepted a return won’t happen and has been more ruthless in cutting his younger son out of the family’s affairs. Harry’s “HRH” honorific was recently quietly excised from the royal family’s website in what was seen as the latest such move by the king.
The king is, however, understood to have maintained some contact with Harry, despite moves such as evicting him and Meghan from their Windsor home, Frogmore Cottage, a decision apparently made just days after the publication of the memoir, which was savagely critical of Camilla.
The journalist and author Omid Scobie, who is close to the Sussex camp, said in a May interview with British TV show This Morning ahead of the coronation of King Charles: “Obviously this [the coronation] is the first time he [Prince Harry] sees his family face-to-face since the release of Spare. But I don’t think people know there has been a somewhat regular pattern of conversation between him and his father since the release of that book.
“Now, have they discussed the details and the points that he wanted to go into? From what I hear, no. But he has had contact with his dad.”
Spokespersons for the royals and Prince Harry did not respond to request for comment on the possibility of a meeting on Sept. 17.
