King Charles spent months briefing the British press about how Prince Harry absolutely needed to come to the coronation. Meghan was an afterthought with the invitation, and Charles made a point of not inviting Prince Archie and Princess Lili to the coronation or to the UK. Harry ended up coming back for 28 hours, then he flew back to California to be with his son on Archie’s birthday. Charles did not extend any invitations to the Sussexes for Trooping the Colour, nor did Charles make any attempt to meet with Harry while Harry was back in London to testify against Charles’s friends at the Mirror. At this point, there’s nothing Charles can hold over Harry’s head, and there are no big “events” for which Harry simply “must return.” This will be the holding pattern for the foreseeable future – Harry and his father barely communicating, and likely never seeing each other. The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes has royal sources insisting that this stalemate is all about Camilla, and all about Spare.

Relations between King Charles and his estranged son Prince Harry have descended to fresh lows owing to Harry’s attacks on Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, and friends of the royals now suspect the two will never be reconciled. While many inside the royal circle of trust have long discounted the possibility of Prince William and Harry ever setting aside their differences, there is now similar pessimism in some quarters about the relationship between Harry and his father, the king, who has been left dismayed by Harry’s brutal criticism of Camilla in his memoir, Spare.

Friends say that Charles was particularly hurt by the assault his son mounted on the character of Camilla in his book. He characterized her as single-mindedly determined to become queen, accused her of “sacrificing” him on “her personal PR altar” and told one interviewer she was “dangerous” and was prepared to leave “bodies in the street” in her quest to be queen.

A longstanding friend of the queen told The Daily Beast: “How does she get past that? It’s one thing to call your stepmother a bitch privately or in a family argument. But to put it in a book which is catching up with the Bible on sales? I think Harry knew exactly what he was doing, and the result is predictable. Charles loves Camilla. He made her queen. He doesn’t react very well to criticism of her.”

Asked if they were saying that the attacks on Camilla, specifically, had generated a harder attitude towards his son from Charles, the friend of Camilla said: “It is a huge part of it. Charles has made it very clear that he loves both his sons so the door will never be bolted shut. But they are a very obstinate family and nobody is about to be the first to apologize. Charles certainly doesn’t believe he has anything to apologize for.”

The other problem, beyond the memoir itself, seems to be an obstinate refusal on both sides to make the first move in apologizing, or, indeed, accepting there is anything to apologize for. One friend of the king and queen told The Daily Beast: “There is no plan for Harry and Charles to meet. There might have been a chance of reconciliation had it not been for the book. But Charles was dismayed and deeply hurt by what Harry said about him and about Camilla in his book.

“Personal feelings aside, Charles has to prioritize the job of being king. He can’t start having meetings with Harry now, it would be a distraction and very destabilizing.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Sykes also cites Roya Nikkhah’s recent report in the Times, where sources “close to Charles” claim that the king “is becoming increasingly exasperated” over Harry and “The King brings Harry up every time I see him. I don’t think we’ve moved past sad and bewildered, but there’s a bit more frustration at his behaviour, because it just keeps going.” That comment was more about Harry’s testimony in court as opposed to Harry’s memoir. Which makes me wonder if Charles is actually all that bothered, at this point, about Spare or Harry’s comments about Camilla. It seems more like Charles is frustrated because of everything I said in the intro: he has no way of controlling Harry, nothing to hold over Harry’s head, no big event to which an invitation must be withheld. Now, I also think Charles is irritated by what Harry said about Camilla, because Harry’s version has been widely accepted, and Harry’s comments are still being repeated endlessly by the Rota. Anyway, Charles is a dogsh-t father, news at seven.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.