Since Prince Harry’s unexpected return to the UK with Meghan Markle and their young children, it’s been widely believed that the wayward prince has had no contact with his father or the royal family.
However, fresh reports claim that while they haven’t met face-to-face, Harry and Charles have secretly been in touch over the phone.
Now Woman’s Day can reveal that not only have Charles and Harry been speaking since he’s been back on British soil, but their civil chats quickly turned sour once the King’s letter reaffirming his son’s non-royal status was made public.
“Harry and Charles were in direct contact when they first arrived in the UK, but not anymore. Now their communication is back to going through one of his advisors after the last call became somewhat heated,” a royal insider says.
“Their phone calls had been on a weekly basis and were nothing more than a typical exchange of pleasantries about the kids, their schooling and various logistics around seeing them. But since the Sussex statement, Charles is not engaging with Harry directly until ‘cooler heads prevail’.”
The Sussexes want to be seen as ‘public figures’, not ‘citizens’
The King shocked royal circles with his letter to government and military officials, which reiterated that despite Harry and Meghan moving back to the UK from California after six years, the His and Her Royal Highness titles remain out of bounds.
Fuelling the conflict, it’s been speculated that Harry’s estranged brother, Prince William, was the one pushing for the announcement to avoid any “confusion” over the Sussexes’ place in the royal family.
As has become the Sussex way, their camp swiftly responded, stating they were “a little surprised not to have been told about this in advance”, as reports circulated they were only given an hour’s notice that it was being released
Royal insiders go one step further and claim the couple were “frustrated” at what they feel was Charles’ “deliberate” wording, particularly with the emphasis that they be treated as “private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.” According to sources for The Telegraph, the couple would prefer the title “public figures”.
What’s more, Harry and Meghan would have liked an acknowledgement that on a personal level, they’re still considered members of the royal family.
Charles has had enough!
Now our insider says Charles, 77, has his own frustrations at Harry and Meghan’s tendency to keep rocking the boat.
“He’s getting tired of the eternal fuss over every move Harry and Meghan make and it constantly impacting the entire Royal Family. He can’t understand why Harry continues to push for conflict – he and Meghan see insults when there are none,” the royal source explains.
“Harry might ask why it was done that way, but Charles and his office have the perfect excuse in that they were answering government and military questions and once it had been sent to Harry and Meghan, the risk of it leaking and looking like some ‘secret plot’ was too high.”
The latest Harry and Meghan saga has some royal experts questioning whether the Duke and Duchess are trying to backtrack on the agreement they made when they exited the royal family in 2020.
“They need to be associated with the British royal family to secure their commercial deals; otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about them,” royal biographer Hugo Vickers says.
“We’ve been told for a long time that they want to be private citizens. We were told they wanted to go away, make their own way in the world, and do various things.”
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