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.
Harry and wife Meghan Markle said in their interview with Oprah Winfrey that members of the royal family had expressed “concerns” over their children’s likely skin color.
It was later revealed, in a since-pulped copy of a book by the journalist Omid Scobie, who is known to have excellent contacts in the Sussex camp, that it was King Charles and Kate Middleton who allegedly made the comments.
On a more minor level, William is profoundly irritated by Harry and Meghan continuing to refer to his wife as Kate, rather than the more regal Catherine as she has requested, as The Daily Beast previously revealed.
“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.
Then-Prince Charles, center, and his sons Prince Harry, left, and Prince William in Klosters, Switzerland, March 31, 2005.
Ruben Sprich/Reuters
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.
They point to Harry’s eviction from the highly secure property Frogmore Cottage, part of the Windsor royal estate, which they say the king knew full well would massively reduce visits by Harry and his family in light of Harry having no automatic right to police protection in the U.K.
There seemed more of the same this weekend, with the king’s office bizarrely seeking to downplay the significance of the message sent by the king’s social media accounts, with an official source saying the palace “sometimes posted for landmark birthdays of non-working royals” adding that “generally” non-landmark birthdays are not the subject of social media posts.
One palace insider told The Daily Beast of William and Kate’s message: “It was just a company thing. Happy birthday blah blah blah.”
They said it was sent to “align” Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace “on a little bit of essentially routine messaging around Harry.”
However, it was noticeable that when Harry formally announced this week that he was going to be coming to England on 30 September, to present the WellChild awards, British media were quick to say that Charles would not be able to meet with Harry because he would be in Scotland until October.
This is a thin excuse at best; both he and Harry have well-documented access to transport.
Prince William, left, and Prince Harry arrive to visit the Support4Grenfell Community Hub in London, Sept. 5, 2017.
Toby Melville/Reuters
Harry’s team would not say how Harry felt about the birthday messages from his family and declined to comment about his arrangements when visiting the U.K. later this month. The king’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The king’s failure to enable a meeting with Harry illustrates the extent of the monarch’s reluctance to engage with his son, whatever birthday wishes may be sent. Whether this makes the king look hypocritical and heartless is of course up to his press office to decide.
Harry publicly said on his last trip to the U.K. that he had been denied a meeting with his father, but that he wanted one. Whether this made him look like he was pressuring a cancer patient was up to his press office to decide.
Harry’s spokesman said at the time: “In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the U.K. this week, it, unfortunately, will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program. The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
It looks like he may be wishing for some time yet to come.
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