One particular royal has long been begging King Charles to repair relations with his younger son, Prince Harry – and it is not who you might expect to get themselves involved
During Prince Harry’s recent visit back to the UK, he finally reunited with his father, King Charles. It had been the subject of much speculation in the weeks leading up to the Duke of Sussex’s trip whether the father and son would finally begin the process of reconciling, after enduring an icy and strained relationship for some years.
The last time the pair had been together was shortly after the monarch was diagnosed with cancer, when Harry immediately jumped on a plane and came to London to see his father. In the 19 months since then, they had spent no time in person together, even when Harry had been in the country.
Tensions have been widely acknowledged on both sides for some time. Since Harry stepped back from royal life and built a new home for himself and his family in California, he has not been shy about candidly opening up about his version of events – from bombshell interviews, to his memoir Spare and Netflix documentary. However, all along, a royal author has claimed, one unexpected royal has been encouraging King Charles to make peace with Harry, despite the ongoing feud between the Duke of Sussex and his elder brother, Prince William.
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Royal author, Omid Scobie, wrote in his book Endgame that the unlikely royal who had been encouraging mending the rift was none other than Prince Edward, Charles’s youngest brother.
In the approach to the publication of Harry’s memoir Spare in January 2023, the Duke tentatively reached out to his father over Christmas, with Charles himself not doing so.
The father and son shared some “light chat,” the author wrote, but in the run-up to the memoir’s publication, the royals were hesitant to get too deep with Harry, anxious about what might be in it, and what might be said in interviews promoting it.
After it was released, and divulged a no-holds-barred look at the internal dysfunction of the House of Windsor, at least from Harry’s perspective, Prince Edward felt it was right that Charles tackle his son’s grievances head-on.
“Prince Edward was one of the few who felt Charles should ‘properly speak’ with his son and try to move on,” Scobie wrote.
Prince Edward, who inherited his father’s title of Duke of Edinburgh when Charles took the throne, is one of the only royals to comment publicly on the strained relationship with the Sussexes.
Back in 2021, he told CNN the breakdown in relations was “very sad” and expressed some sympathy for the couple’s plight.
“Listen, weirdly we’ve all been there before — we’ve all had excessive intrusion and attention in our lives,” Edward explained, “And we’ve all dealt with it in slightly different ways, and listen, we wish them the very best of luck. It’s a really hard decision.
“It’s difficult for everyone, but that’s families for you,” he added.
In another interview, Edward, the unexpected peacemaker, admitted that he generally tries to “stay out of it”.
“I stay way out of it. It’s much the safest place to be,” he said.
