King Charles has preferred to move his focus away from the ongoing feud with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, particularly since the latest development regarding Harry’s last visit to the UK.
A close family friend has revealed that the King prefers not to “dwell” on the subject after he and his youngest son were unable to reconcile while Harry was in London for the Invictus Games 10th anniversary service.
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said earlier this month that His Majesty was “too busy” with other duties to see his Harry, adding: “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
However it has since emerged that the King did invite Harry to stay at a royal residence during his trip but that the Prince chose to stay at a hotel instead.
A royal source told The Daily Beast: “Relations are as bad as they have ever been. Nothing has been resolved. But Charles does not spend a great deal of time dwelling on the matter because he is so busy.”
On the podcast The Royals with Roya and Kate, Sunday Times royal editor Roya Nikkhah explained: “All the narrative from the moment he [Harry] touched down and we got that statement from Harry’s spokesperson saying it’s not possible for Harry to see his father, his father is too busy, he completely understands. That set the mood music for the whole week that Harry had said Pa is too busy to see me.
“I just thought something didn’t feel quite right about this, so I dug away and dug away a bit deeper and found out that actually, Harry had asked if he could stay and Charles had said yes, come and stay son.
“You come and stay in a royal residence, you are near where I am so it’s going to be much easier for me to see you given what’s going on with my diary and your diary.”
Ms Nikkhah then elaborated: “And that turned everything on its head because the narrative from Harry that I wanted to see my father but he is too busy to see me, actually the reality was Charles said yes please do come and stay in a royal gaff and that would make it much easier for me to see each other.”
The Times assistant editor Kate Mansey added: “Someone at the Palace told me that the King was bruised by that statement that Harry put out, which all plays into exactly why.”
It has been speculated that the King is more eager to patch things up with Harry, whereas Prince William is finding it harder to forgive his brother.
When asked whether William was hindering a reunion between Harry and Charles, the source continued: “If William was prepared to reconcile with Harry it would certainly make things easier, but that’s not the whole story. The King was particularly hurt by what Harry said about Camilla.”
In his memoir Spare Harry attacked Queen Camilla, describing her as “dangerous” and claiming she sacrificed him on her own “personal PR altar”.
Lady Lansdowne, a close confidante of Camilla’s, told The Sunday Times: ” Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts. But she doesn’t let it get to her.
“Her philosophy is always, ‘Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down – least said, soonest mended’.”
