{"id":261999,"date":"2025-07-13T16:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T16:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/261999\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T16:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T16:24:12","slug":"king-charles-prince-harry-thaw-begins-but-william-will-never-forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/261999\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles-Prince Harry Thaw Begins But William Will Never Forgive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photographs published in the Mail on Sunday<\/a> show King Charles\u2019 communications secretary meeting with two of Prince Harry\u2019s senior aides at a private members\u2019 club in London. <\/p>\n

Notably absent from the peace summit this week were any representatives from Prince William\u2019s team\u2014and given the deep personal animosity between the brothers, that is no surprise. <\/p>\n

As The Royalist has long reported, William\u2019s loathing for Harry runs deep. As one longtime friend of the Prince of Wales once bluntly put it to us<\/a>, \u201cHe absolutely f***ing hates\u201d Harry.<\/p>\n

Asked about speculation<\/a> that William would have supported the meeting, the friend told us this weekend: \u201cWilliam will never, ever forgive Harry for what he has done. Charles is the king; he can do what he likes. But make no mistake: William believes with every fiber of his being that giving Harry and Meghan back any royal imprimatur is a huge mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KingKing Charles’ communications secretary met with two of Prince Harry’s senior aides at the Royal Over-Seas League, a private members’ club. Samir Hussein\/Samir Hussein\/WireImage <\/p>\n

The meeting included the king\u2019s most senior communications official, Tobyn Andreae, and two members of Harry\u2019s team: Meredith Maines, Harry\u2019s recently appointed comms boss, who is based in Los Angeles, and veteran British publicity rep Liam Maguire, who is now working for the Sussexes from London. <\/p>\n

The fact that representatives from both sides sat down together\u2014after more than two years of icy silence\u2014is, in and of itself, a major development.<\/p>\n

A source told the Mail on Sunday<\/a>: \u201cThere\u2019s a long road ahead, but a channel of communication is now open for the first time in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no formal agenda, just casual drinks. There were things both sides wanted to talk about<\/a>,” the source added.<\/p>\n

It was held at the Royal Over-Seas League, a stone\u2019s throw from Clarence House, the royal residence on The Mall in Westminster, London.<\/p>\n

Maines and Maguire arrived by taxi at 3.50 p.m., the report says, followed by Andreae, who appeared to be carrying a gift from Berry Bros and Rudd, the wine and spirits merchant.<\/p>\n

\"PrinceWhile King Charles and Prince Harry’s surrogates have opened communication lines, triggering speculation about a reconciliation, Prince William remains estranged from his brother. DOMINIC LIPINSKI\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The source described the summit as only the \u201cfirst step towards reconciliation between Harry and his father, but at least it is a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone just wants to move on and move forward now,\u201d they added. \u201cIt was finally the right time for the two sides to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

One potential opportunity for a public reconciliation, which is being discussed in both London and California, is the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Since Prince Harry launched legal action against the British government over the removal of state-funded police protection, there has been almost no contact between the Sussex and royal households. <\/p>\n

Tensions, of course, long predate that court case. The rupture began with Harry\u2019s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, in which Harry and Meghan accused unnamed members of the royal family<\/a>\u2014later revealed to be the king and Kate Middleton\u2014of asking racist questions about their then-unborn kids\u2019 likely skin color. It deepened after his Netflix documentary series and reached a new low with the publication of Spare, his bestselling and deeply wounding memoir.<\/p>\n

\"gettyimages-1231591981-594x594_iuhawr\"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah in 2021 was a turning point in their relationship with the royal family. GLYN KIRK\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Still, in a BBC interview several weeks ago, Harry said he wanted reconciliation. \u201cThere\u2019s no point in continuing to fight anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cLife is precious. Forgiveness is 100 percent a possibility because I would like to get my father and brother back.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added pointedly that he did not know \u201chow much longer\u201d his father had left to live, a comment that drew the palace\u2019s ire.<\/p>\n

Behind palace walls, insiders have long acknowledged that King Charles is more open to the idea of reconciliation than his elder son. <\/p>\n

Charles was quoted in Harry\u2019s book as urging both his sons not to let their feud define his final years. But insiders say William remains resolute. He was particularly upset by Harry\u2019s portrayal of Kate in Spare and believes that Harry has repeatedly exploited the royal family for commercial gain.<\/p>\n

In Spare, Harry launched withering attacks on Queen Camilla, branding her the \u201cwicked stepmother\u201d and accusing her of trading in family secrets to rehabilitate her image in the press. So when Harry briefly flew to the United Kingdom in January 2024 to see his father following the king\u2019s cancer diagnosis, it did not go unnoticed that Charles insisted Camilla remain in the room during their short meeting.<\/p>\n

\"DEAL,King Charles was diagnosed with cancer in February 2024. John Phillips\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

But perhaps the deepest rift between Harry and his father was caused not by a book or a documentary, but by the legal battle over Harry\u2019s police protection. <\/p>\n

Sources at the palace told The Royalist that Charles was deeply uncomfortable with Harry\u2019s suggestion that Charles could \u201cclick his fingers\u201d and override the Home Office to secure police coverage. <\/p>\n

Palace officials were also reportedly wary of meeting privately with Harry during ongoing legal proceedings, fearing any conversation might be later introduced in court, a concern rooted in the painful memory of the Paul Burrell case, which collapsed after the late Queen Elizabeth intervened, confirming that Princess Diana\u2019s butler had told her he was safeguarding the princess\u2019s possessions.<\/p>\n

In May, Harry lost his final appeal on the matter and, days later in that same BBC interview, he reflected: \u201cOf course some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But I would love reconciliation with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,Prince William and his father have had their own periods of tension in recent years. Karwai Tang\/WireImage <\/p>\n

That hope now appears to be inching toward reality, at least in relation to his father. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood that Harry has formally invited King Charles to attend the 2027 Invictus Games, which will be held in Birmingham. <\/p>\n

This week\u2019s meeting has fueled speculation that the king may accept the invitation, marking the most public show of unity between them in years.<\/p>\n

But William is unlikely to welcome any warmth between the king and his younger son. Prince William and his father have had their own periods of tension in recent years, and William reading about the meeting in Sunday\u2019s papers will not go down well, sources say.<\/p>\n

This has always been a three-way dynamic, not a simple father-and-son dispute. Any reconciliation that doesn\u2019t include William risks deepening the divide between the king and his heir.<\/p>\n

While Sunday\u2019s photographs may mark the first flicker of a royal reunion, the path to true peace remains long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photographs published in the Mail on Sunday show King Charles\u2019 communications secretary meeting with two of Prince Harry\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7730,7731,1760,7710,519,11571],"class_list":{"0":"post-261999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-iii","11":"tag-king-charles","12":"tag-royal-families","13":"tag-royal-family","14":"tag-royalist"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114846857201237898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}