On Tuesday, WellChild announced that Prince Harry would attend their awards on September 30th in London. WellChild is one of Harry’s few British patronages left, and he’s always done the most to support WellChild and the families involved with the charity. Since the announcement, the British media has been trying to figure out how to talk about Harry’s trip, given what are probably contradictory briefings from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. They had just made a big deal about King Charles publicly sending birthday wishes to Harry, and how those birthday wishes meant the ball is in Harry’s court and it’s up to him to decide what to do next. Then the palace turned around and immediately told those same outlets that Charles would not be inclined to see Harry during his visit. So, yeah. Well, Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast has fresh tea on this situation: “Prince Harry Won’t Meet Prince William or King Charles on U.K. Trip: Sources.”
Royal relations have reached a fresh nadir, with the sending of birthday wishes to Prince Harry by King Charles and Prince William’s offices on Sunday revealed to be a triumph of performative style over meaningful substance. The clearest evidence of this is that none of the senior royals have any plans to meet with Prince Harry when he comes to the U.K. later this month and, furthermore, have no plans to do so in the short to medium term, well-placed sources have told The Daily Beast.
Harry is not expected to stay in a royal residence, The Daily Beast understands, instead likely staying in a central London hotel, as he did last time, further cementing his estrangement and alienation from his family of origin. One old friend of Harry’s, asked about the likelihood of an invitation to meet with his father or brother on his next trip, told The Daily Beast: “Harry is not expecting the call-up from the king or William.”
William, sources say, is refusing to meet Harry, because he still regards his rude and revealing comments about him and particularly his wife in his memoir, Spare, to be unforgivable. He also blames Harry for causing Kate to be accused of asking racist questions about Harry’s kids skin color.
“William’s focus is on his family right now and he won’t be meeting up with Harry,” a friend of the Waleses told The Daily Beast. They pointed out that the brothers did not speak or interact when they both attended a funeral for an uncle on the Spencer side of their family last month.
The king, meanwhile, remains unwilling to meet Harry while he is in the admittedly difficult position of his own son suing “His Majesty’s” government. Harry is locked in a bitter and expensive court battle with the British state over his security provision. His camp have told The Daily Beast that they believe the king could and should intervene on his behalf, but official sources in the king’s office say such an intervention would be wildly inappropriate.
The outright refusal by Harry’s birth family to even contemplate a meeting with him will dash hopes of a family reconciliation that briefly flared this week after William and the king’s social media accounts sent Harry birthday wishes on Sunday. It’s hard, a few days later on, to see what the point of those messages might have been, other, perhaps, than trolling Harry. This is likely to be considered by Harry’s side. Harry’s friends have previously told The Daily Beast that the royals are gaslighting him (and the public) by sending very different messages publicly and privately. The king’s team have always insisted Charles wants to be reconciled with his son and loves him, but Harry’s team say actions speak louder than words and that the actions taken by the king have made reconciliation more difficult.
I don’t think Charles is “trolling” Harry but there’s definitely a lot of gaslighting. My opinion of what’s really going down: Charles doesn’t actually care that much about reconciling with Harry or welcoming Harry back for visits or seeing Harry’s children. Charles does not give a f–k about any of that, but Charles also knows that if he takes that position publicly, he’ll look awful. Charles’s machinations and chaotic strategy on “the Harry Problem” are solely about Charles’s image and how he’s positioning himself publicly. That’s why he was so f–king mad in May, when Harry released the statement revealing that Charles was refusing to meet with him privately. I absolutely wonder if Harry will do the same thing ahead of his visit to the UK this month, release another brief statement saying that he approached the palace for a meeting and his father turned him down again. I hope he does.
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