Prince Harry is ‘wrong’ to claim that King Charles has shown ‘no willingness’ to repair relations and his door has ‘always been open’, sources have said.
The Duke of Sussex said a potential reunion with his family in the UK did not seem on the cards, suggesting his father and brother were to blame for their continuing rift.
He made the claim in a trailer for an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, part of the publicity blitz for his memoir Spare, which comes out next week.
But those close to the King say he has constantly reiterated how much he loves both of his sons and made it clear that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are welcome to meet him at any time.
Harry claimed a potential reunion with his family across the pond did not seem on the cards, saying his father and brother had ‘absolutely no willingness to reconcile’
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, they pointed out that the monarch has kept a line of communication with the Sussexes despite the many barbs they have targeted at the Royal Family.
They say he saw ‘tremendous flickers of hope’ in his interactions with the couple following the Queen’s death.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, another source said the latest claim by Harry was ‘complete and unadulterated nonsense’.
They said: ‘It takes some audacity to say that when his father invited him to stay at his house when in the UK, invited him to spend Christmas with the rest of the family and continued to make public statements of support.’
They also told the publication: ‘[The King] has been saddened that he hasn’t had the opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren. He has always left the door open for his son and will continue to do so.’
Representatives of Prince Harry have been contacted for comment.
There have been suggestions by some royal experts though that the already tense relationship between Harry and the rest of his family could become even more frayed upon the release of his memoir.
Insiders fear that the Duke of Sussex and his brother William, the Prince of Wales, will ‘never reconcile’ after Spare is released, with the book set to feature stinging attacks on him and his wife Kate.
A source told the Sunday Times: ‘Generally, I think the book [will be] worse for them than the Royal Family is expecting.
‘Everything is laid bare. Charles comes out of it better than it had been expected, but it’s tough on William, in particular, and even Kate gets a bit of a broadside.
‘There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.’
The memoir has been penned by ghostwriter JR Moehringer, with some of the proceeds being donated by the duke to charity.
Royal sources have said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were invited to join the family this Christmas. Pictured: King Charles and his wife Camilla lead the Royal Family on a walkabout at Sandringham on Christmas Day
A promotional poster for Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, which is being released next week
Before it is published next week, two interviews with Harry by Mr Bradby and CBS’s Anderson Cooper, both conducted at a hired ranch in Montecito, will be released.
In a trailer for the interview with Mr Bradby, the Duke of Sussex said he would ‘like to have my father and brother back’, adding his family ‘have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile’.
Harry says ‘it never needed to be this way’ and refers to ‘the leaking and the planting’ before adding ‘I want a family, not an institution’.
He also says, in an apparent reference to the royals, ‘they feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains’ – something not likely to help the frayed relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the Firm which sources say is already ‘hanging by a thread’.
But one royal expert said Harry and Meghan need to learn ‘silence is common sense’ and that airing dirty laundry in public is not likely to help bring about the reconciliation the duke claims he wants.
Richard Fitzwilliams said proclamations made by the Sussexes in the Press are not helping the fractured relationship.
‘Harry might like to ‘get his brother back’ and ‘…his father back’, but must surely know giving this catalogue of woes even more exposure, is not the way to do so.
There are fears there will be no chance at reconciliation after the publication of Harry’s memoir. Pictured: William, Harry, Meghan and Kate at Westminster Abbey in 2018
‘Further accusations of stories being planted against them by the Palace in both interviews show how bitter he and Meghan still are but, though their fans may support it, there will come a time when even the media tire of exposure at this level.
‘Harry says in the trailer for the CBS interview, referring to the Palace’s inability to protect them from false reports, that “there comes a point when silence is betrayal”.
‘There is also a point, if they wish any relationship, however distant, with the Royal Family, when silence is common sense. When will the Sussexes learn this?’
In a trailer for his interview with US TV personality Mr Cooper, Harry was asked why he had not communicated his grievances with the family in private.
In response he said: ‘Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
‘The family motto is never complain and never explain – it’s just a motto.’
He added: ‘They [Buckingham Palace] will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
‘But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
‘So when we’re being told for the last six years, ”we can’t put a statement out to protect you”, but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.’
The clips appear to confirm reports that Harry will use his memoir to reveal details about disagreements between him and his brother the Prince of Wales, 40.
It comes after the duke claimed in his Netflix documentary that William broke a promise to never to leak stories or brief against one another after witnessing the fallout of such actions in their father’s office.
