There’s only one path of reconciliation for Prince Harry and royal family: source
They’ll be no suffering through the gloomy Scottish weather at Sandringham or wading through the lochs for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this summer.
King Charles and Queen Camilla have not invited the renegade royals and their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for a family vacation at the monarch’s Highlands estate, sources told Page Six.
As Harry nears his 40th birthday on September 15 and the chances of seeing his family continue to appear remarkably slim, multiple sources said there is only one way he will consider a reconciliation with his father.
“King Charles can give Harry the security clearance he wants so desperately. As the monarch, he is the ultimate decision maker. That would be how father and son can reconcile,” said one royal source.
Harry has repeatedly said he will not bring his wife and children to the UK as long as he does not receive official police security. He and Markle, 42, lost their taxpayer-funded police protection detail after they stepped down from being working royals and moved to America in 2020.
In April, Harry lost a legal bid challenging a British government decision barring him from paying for such protection while visiting the UK. He is now appealing the decision.
The prince reiterated his point of view in an ITV documentary, “Tabloids on Trial,” which aired in the UK Thursday, saying he will not bring his family from America to his homeland as things stand now.
“It’s still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read,” he said. “And whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
But, he claimed, that’s not the only issue keeping him away. In the documentary, he also called the royal family’s unwillingness to join his legal fight against the press “a central piece” of the rift between them.
Although he has remained somewhat in touch with his father, Harry has not spoken to his older brother, Prince William, for more than two years. Page Six is told that reports that Harry has personally been in touch with the future king or sister-in-law Kate Middleton amid her cancer battle are inaccurate.
Source said William, 42, remains furious that Harry claimed in his memoir, “Spare,” that the future monarch had assaulted him during an explosive argument over Markle. He is also said to be angry that the book blamed him and Middleton for encouraging Harry to wear a Nazi uniform to a 2005 costume party.
Making it worse, writer Omid Scobie — who penned the Sussexes’ fawning biography, “Finding Freedom” — caused a storm by claiming that Charles and Kate were the so-called royal racists who asked what color Harry and Markle’s children would be. William is said to be appalled by the allegation.
Harry and Markle set off a royal family firestorm during their notorious 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey when Markle said there had been “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.”
Given all this, royal watchers were quick to call Harry a hypocrite for citing his legal battle with the British tabloids as fueling the family’s rift.
But one royal insider who has known Harry for years said that, once again, Harry tripped over his own words.
“Harry’s participation in this documentary isn’t because he wants to blame his family or speak further about their ‘rift,’” the insider said.”It is rather about his continued fight against the British tabloids. Harry’s mission in [taking] legal action with the press is clearly unique … he acknowledges that his choices have caused strain.”
The prince won a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers in December 2023, when a judge ruled his phone had been hacked by the tabloid “to a modest extent.”
Harry has two ongoing civil cases against the publishers of The Mail and The Sun (both deny unlawful information gathering claims).
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we did it as a family,” Harry said on the ITV documentary this week. “I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you’re in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But I’m doing this for my reasons.”
He said that his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, was supportive of his fight.
“We had many conversations before she passed, this is very much something she supported. She knew how much this meant to me,” he said. “She is up there going, ‘See this through to the end,’ without question.”
When the topic of his father’s and Middleton’s recent cancer diagnoses came up, Harry said, “The two things are completely separate. My father and my sister-in-law and me following through on these legal battles are two completely different things.”
While Harry made a fleeting visit to see his father after the king, 75, was diagnosed with cancer in February, his children have spent barely any time with the grandfather — or their aunt, uncle and young cousins George, 11, Charlotte, 9, and Louis, 6.
As Harry prepares to celebrate his landmark birthday one longtime palace source told Page Six that their mother worried he and William might struggle.
“Diana wanted them to be close. There have always been reports that she wanted Harry to be William’s wingman — it’s a nice idea, but she knew very much the burden of history would be on William,” said the source.
“Too often Harry’s behavior is lacking judgement,” said Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s former chief of staff. “But that may partly be [due] to growing up in a royal world where fault could usually be deflected onto somebody else, insulating him from the consequences of his actions.
“Frequently, Harry’s announcements lack intellectual rigor; he often has good points to make in support of his allegations but they are not always coherently marshaled. Particularly when he invokes his mother.”
Reps for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were unavailable for comment.
Despite him coming under fire for his comments this week, a friend of Harry’s noted that he has barely spoken publicly about the royal family in the past year, save for an interview with “Good Morning America” following Charles’ cancer diagnosis.
Harry told Will Reeve: “I jumped on a plane and went to go see him as soon as I could. Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.”
As for the near future, Harry is focusing on “do good” initiatives through his and Markle’s Archewell Foundation, including working with parents whose children took their own lives after being bullied on social media. His planned Africa documentary for Netflix has been put on the back burner, Page Six is told.
He will not, despite reports, be receiving a $9 million trust on his 40th birthday, sources added. But it seems he may have found himself.
