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Seven words. That’s all it took for Prince Harry to convey a dramatic change of heart about a royal family feud that has dominated headlines for the last seven years.
In an October 20 interview with GQ’s One More Question podcast, the Duke of Sussex put it plainly when he said “of course” he wants to heal the rift between him, his father King Charles, and his estranged brother Prince William.
Despite all the accusations he and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, levelled at the Palace in their famous Oprah interview, and the revelations contained within Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, it seems that the Duke is at last ready to move on.
Harry told GQ that, because of everything going on in the world, “the most important thing is to reconcile”, adding that it was “the key point”.
“Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to work out,” he added, in a comment that a spokesman was forced to later clarify was not a dig at William.
“It was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family,” a Sussex spokesman said. “The comment was made in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way.”
Harry’s feud admission came at an interesting time – hours before King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, attended a dazzling State Banquet with the Sultan of Oman, and days after he and his wife made their first public outing as a couple during a Nottingham visit that appeared to emulate an official royal engagement.
Now, sources tell Woman’s Day that Harry is keen to build on the momentum further – leaving one big question hanging: how will William respond?
“Harry’s absolutely thrilled with the reception he and Meghan got in Nottingham. To him, it’s proof that there’s still a huge appetite for what they have to offer, no matter how much criticism they’ve faced or how determined the Palace seems to be to keep them at arm’s length,” an insider shares.
“He genuinely believes they connect with people in a way that’s more natural and relevant to today’s world, and he can’t understand why the family wouldn’t want to make use of that.”
The source suggests that these new reconciliation comments from the Duke may signal that “a proper return to royal duties might be worth considering, provided they could negotiate something that gives them independence and lets Meghan pursue her own career”.
“He’s convinced the family will eventually see sense, but either way, he intends to keep doing this work for the rest of his life,” the source adds.
Harry’s determination to make full use of his royal birthright appeared to be reflected in comments made by a friend of the Sussexes to The Times recently.
“Harry is the son of the king, he is still a member of the royal family, he’s just not a member of the institution,” the friend told the outlet.
In an interview on The Royalist with Tom Sykes, royal expert and author Tom Bower claimed that Harry was making a status claim.
“Of course [Harry’s] desperate for his status to be remembered,” Bower said. “He can’t believe really that the son of the King is being treated as a private citizen.
“At the moment he is desperate for the status, as of course is she,” Bower claimed, referring to Meghan.
However, Bower said that, in his opinion, the comments that Harry had previously made about the Royal Family on Oprah and in his memoir, were “unforgivable”.
“Now, he’s trying to pretend he can forget all that [and] we should forget it too,” the author said.
“I just hope the Palace don’t forget it and keep on reminding him that bad behaviour has consequences.”
Harry and Meghan were, of course, absent from the State Banquet attended by senior royals as Harry’s feud comments dominated headlines.
“Sources close to Harry say nothing should be read into the timing of release of the interview – but we have seen these kind of actions before,” the Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson wrote in an opinion piece for the outlet.
“It is worth noting that Harry and Meghan have never attended an incoming State Visit together.”
William, meanwhile, has attended all nine during his father’s time as King, while Kate only missed one as she recovered from cancer.
The expert said that if Harry was trying to “drive a wedge” between Charles and William with his comments, it was “unlikely to work”.
He pointed to a glowing endorsement made by Charles during the State Banquet – in which he said he was “delighted” that William and the Sultan’s son His Highness Sayyid Theyazin had become joint patrons of the Jewel of Arabia expedition.
“Your Majesty, there can be few happier symbols of success than a living relationship being passed from one generation to the next,” Charles told the Sultan.
The 77-year-old monarch unsurprisingly did not make mention of Harry during the prestigious occasion.
