Mending some fences — while others need more work. Ahead of King Charles III’s coronation, royal expert Omid Scobie gave an update on Prince Harry’s relationships with his father and Prince William.
“Obviously [the coronation] is the first time [Prince Harry] sees his family face-to-face since the release of Spare,” Scobie, the author of Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan, revealed on Britain’s This Morning on Wednesday, March 3. “But I don’t think people know there has been a somewhat regular pattern of conversation between him and his father since the release of that book.”
In January, Harry, 38, released Spare, his tell-all memoir that contained many allegations against the royal family, including unfavorable accusations about the king, 74, and William, 40.
“Now have they discussed the details and the points that he wanted to go into? From what I hear, no,” Scobie explained about the content of Harry and Charles’ conversations. “But he has had contact with his dad.”
It’s a significant improvement in the father and son’s relationship. After telling Charles about his and Meghan Markle’s plan to step down from their positions as senior royals in 2020, Harry explained in the Sussexes’ bombshell CBS interview that his dad “stopped taking [his] calls.”
“Because I took matters into my own hands,” Harry claimed at the time. “It was like I need to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody; it’s really sad that it’s got to this point, but I’ve got to do something for my own mental health, for my wife’s, because I could see where this is headed.”
While Charles and Harry’s relationship has slowly improved — the monarch mentioned Harry and Meghan, 41, in his inaugural speech as king in September 2022 — Harry and William are still at odds.
“There has been minimal contact [with the Prince of Wales] since the queen’s funeral,” Scobie said on Wednesday, referring to their grandmother’s state funeral in September 2022. (Queen Elizabeth II died at age 96 after a historic 70 years on the throne.)
The siblings were seen together at the time, with a source telling Us Weekly that it was the Prince of Wales who invited his brother and sister-in-law to join him and Princess Kate in greeting mourners.
Though the reunion was significant for royal watchers, it was difficult for the family members.
“Catherine later admitted to a senior royal that, such was the ill feeling between the two couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do,” royal expert Robert Jobson wrote in his book, Our King.
Despite the drama, Scobie shared on This Morning that “there was certainly no question” that Harry would attend the Saturday, May 6 coronation.
“Ultimately he is fifth in line to the throne. He is a Councillor of State. There is a serious constitutional reason for him to be here and he takes that seriously, even though he’s not a working member of the royal family,” Scobie said. “As we have heard from him time and time again in his interviews, despite the pain that he has experienced from his own family, he still cares for them. … I don’t think he would want to look back and regret not being there for that moment.”
Meghan, however, will not be in attendance for her father-in-law’s big day, Buckingham Palace announced in a statement last month. The Duchess of Sussex will instead be at home in California with her and Harry’s children: son Archie, 4, and daughter Lilibet, 22 months. Archie’s 4th birthday falls on the same day as the coronation.
“As much as Meghan appreciates the invite to the coronation, she wouldn’t miss her son’s birthday for the world,” an insider exclusively told Us in April. “Despite being the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan is a mom first.”
