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On May 13, a crown perched atop his head, King Charles attended the opening of the UK Parliament with his wife by his side.
While Queen Camilla – dare we say it – looked, at times, rather bored during the ensuing spectacle, now royal experts are seizing on a line in the King’s speech as a sign that, behind the scenes, a “secret alliance” has formed between him and his son, Prince Harry.
During his speech, the King took the opportunity to declare that the government would take “urgent action to tackle antisemitism and ensure all communities feel safe” – a pressing issue in the UK after a string of recent attacks at synagogues and other Jewish sites.
Just hours later, the New Statesman published an opinion piece by Prince Harry, in which he expressed his “fears for a divided kingdom” and said “we must stand against both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate”.
It should be remembered that it’s not the first time Charles and Harry have echoed each other’s thoughts. Days before Charles addressed the US Congress recently, urging America to continue support for Ukraine in a much-feted speech, his son had done the same during a surprise appearance at the Kyiv Security Forum.
“I was told by sources after that speech that Harry and Charles were aligned on the issues, and that Harry was very gratified by what his father said in America,” royal expert Tom Sykes, writing on The Royalist substack, said.
“There wasn’t a suggestion of a secret alliance at the time. But that is what I now think is happening.”
While Sykes explained that the Sussexes’ team called the timing of recent comments a “coincidence”, he also pointed to previous claims by royal expert Richard Eden in October 2025, that Harry’s wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was planning to rebuild her public image in the UK in an operation known to her inner-circle as “Project Thaw”.
“Richard Eden of the Daily Mail was much ridiculed when he first unveiled his “Project Thaw” narrative – the idea that the King is secretly engaged with a cabal of civil servants who are trying to ease Harry back into public life in the United Kingdom,” Sykes wrote.
“But the co-ordinated messages now coming out of Harry’s office and the King’s office have taken this idea out of the realm of fact-free conspiracy theory.”
Adding to the intrigue surrounding the situation, are claims that the King’s own private secretary – former diplomat Theo Rycroft – is said to hold ambitions to heal the rift between Prince Harry and his brother Prince William due to the “great pain” it causes their father.
A source told the Daily Mail that Rycroft believes the situation has become f*****g ridiculous”.
“He thinks it’s time to knock their heads together,” the insider added. “The mood is, ‘He’s not wrong’.”
The state of the King’s health remains a concern to royal watchers, with Charles doing nothing to quench discourse around the subject as he shared a telling insight with a guest at his recent Buckingham Palace garden party.
Talking to Virginia Cavill, a wheelchair bound attendee who had recently fallen and broken her ankle, Charles discussed ageing.
“This is the trouble as you get older, I know it’s going to happen to me,” he said.
When Virginia asked Charles how he, himself, was doing, he gave a small smile.
“I’m OK, I totter along,” he said.
Sykes explains that Charles does not want his final years to be “defined by estrangement from his son”, but the expert also has a stark warning for the monarch.
“We understand the human impulse. Charles has always been at great pains to remind us that he is a person, that he is compassionate, that he has a soul. Any parent would want to reconcile with a child,” the expert wrote.
“But I think as King, you have to draw a distinction between what’s good for you as a human and what is good for the nation and good for the institution.
“Bringing Harry back and excusing everything he said in Spare, everything he said in the Netflix documentary, everything he continues to stand by about how awful the British royal family are is going to be incredibly unpopular.”
