Though King Charles and his son Prince Harry have reportedly met since the publication of Harry’s bombshell memoir, Spare, this past January, the residual aftereffects and fallout from the tome still loom large for Charles. OK reports that the King still feels that any meeting with Harry could end up as fodder for a new book—Harry himself said earlier this year that he had enough material to fill two books, although there’s no confirmation at present that a follow-up is in the works.
“The monarch is said to oscillate between hurt and fury over his youngest child’s monetized indiscretions,” the outlet reports, referring to not just Spare but also Harry & Meghan, Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s eponymous six-part docuseries, and interviews done in the media to promote both projects.
Royal expert Daniela Elser said there is only a “tiny glimmer of hope” that father and son could ever fully reconcile, though there seems to be love on both sides. Though OK reports that Harry “went soft on his father” when it came to the docuseries and “barely mentioned the newly crowned sovereign” in Spare, “Harry’s attacks on Queen Camilla went straight to the King’s weak spot and were a surefire way to incite his irritation,” the outlet writes.
“Even if Charles was in mind to overlook the grievous slight that Harry had done to his darling wife’s reputation by casting her as Snow White’s evil queen sans apple, there is another key factor preventing His Majesty or anyone with an HRH picking up the phone with the Sussexes,” Elser said. “It could all end up as fodder for a future bestseller.”
OK previously reported that Charles was “deeply hurt” by comments and allegations made against Camilla, who was once the archnemesis for Charles’ attention of Harry’s beloved mother, the late Princess Diana, who died in 1997. “How does she [Camilla] get past that?” a friend of Camilla’s said. “It’s one thing to call your stepmother a b— privately or in a family argument. But to put it in a book that is catching up with the Bible on sales?”
Of Harry, “the Duke also seems to share his father’s penchant for bitter resentment, which can also be seen with Prince William and his intention of keeping his feud with Harry firmly in place,” OK reports.
Per OK, there was only one person that could have healed the bitter battle between brothers: Diana. “Diana was an absolutely devoted mother, and her sons meant the world to her,” said royal expert Jennie Bond. “I’m sure her greatest wish would be to hug her boys again and find some way of resolving the rift between them. If anyone could sort things out, it would have been Diana.”
In her absence, royal author Tom Quinn said, a reconciliation is likely not to be: “People I’ve spoken to who work for both William and Kate say this is never really going to be healed,” he said. “Privately there’s a lot more anger than there is publicly, especially about the accusation William physically assaulted Harry [made in Spare]. Apparently William is furious.”
And all of them are stubborn: “They are a very obstinate family, and nobody is about to be the first to apologize,” a friend of the King’s said. “Charles certainly doesn’t believe he has anything to apologize for.”
And the impasse remains.
That said, Harry, per The Mirror, seems less interested in celebrity and the limelight and even writing a second book in the first place, the outlet reports. Harry “has never really wanted to be in the spotlight,” said culture and brand expert Rochelle White. “Looking at past behavior, I feel that Harry has never been a fan of the ‘celebrity life,’ and I can see him working and doing things that mean more to him and that he enjoys. He’s been open enough to make that clear, and I don’t want to say he will be doing passion projects, but I don’t think it will be far from it.”
