Royal watchers focus on King Charles III’s feud with Prince Harry, but maybe they should be looking more carefully at the monarch’s relationship with Prince William.
It seems that the king and the heir aren’t exactly getting along, according to the Daily Beast. They are reportedly at odds over modernizing the monarchy, the ongoing mess with Prince Andrew, and, of course, a reconciliation with Prince Harry. Charles is open to healing the rift with his youngest son, while the Prince of Wales is adamantly opposed to the idea.
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Prince William is allegedly using his point of view about Prince Andrew to strengthen his argument about Harry.
“William always said, ‘Just cut Andrew off completely. It’s not appropriate to have an alleged sex offender breaking bread with the royal family.’ Charles was so desperate to be seen as embodying the spirit of Christian forgiveness that he let Andrew back in,” said a palace insider. “William was right about Andrew, and he is right about Harry. Charles is weak. William is anything but weak.”
Prince Harry
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Even though the Prince of Wales believes that Charles meeting with Harry while he’s in the U.K. next week is a “terrible, terrible idea,” he will still respect his father’s wishes. It probably won’t reconcile the brothers, though.
“William is done with Harry. When he becomes King, everybody thinks the divide will become even wider,” a royal source told Us Weekly in August.
Still, Harry is pushing to spend time with his father, who continues to battle cancer. “There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” the Duke of Sussex told the BBC in May, “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Even royal experts are pushing for the end of the family feud because, honestly, everyone is exhausted by the topic. Royal expert Hugo Vickers shared his thoughts with Page Six about the royal peace talks that took place in July between the Sussexes’ chief communications officer, Meredith Maines, and their PR representative in the U.K., Liam Maguire, with the monarch’s communications secretary, Tobyn Andreae.
“[The staff] may well have just been discussing routine things, which is more than likely, but at some point you have got to reconcile,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll see Harry returning to royal duties, but on a personal level, it will be good if he’s able to get on terms with his father.”
Even The Mail on Sunday, a noted Prince Harry critic, is ready for Charles to extend the olive branch. “Everyone just wants to move on and move forward now. It was finally the right time for the two sides to talk,” a source said.
The only person left to convince is Prince William, who seems to be sticking with his stubborn perspective.
Click here to see a complete timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s feud with the royal family.
