Marie Claire has previously reported that the circle around the Prince and Princess of Wales has never been tighter as Kate recovers from abdominal surgery in January. As the alligators swarm the proverbial moat around Adelaide Cottage, hungry for any piece of information they can find on her health condition (including a data breach at the hospital she had her surgery performed at, news that broke earlier this week), maybe it’s not shocking at all to learn that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly have no clue as to what’s going on any more than the rest of us do.
But maybe it’s because we wish it were not so that this headline even makes news at all. Shouldn’t family know this kind of information? It proves, again, there’s no prescribed, one-size-fits-all way to do family. “They are aware of everything that goes on back in England but are being left out of any details regarding Kate,” a family source told People. “There is clearly no trust.”
When Harry visited the U.K. following his father King Charles’ shocking announcement that he had been diagnosed with cancer last month, Harry reportedly wanted to see William and Kate, but it didn’t happen. A former courtier said William’s “principal concern is his wife,” still now but especially then, as she was less than a month into her recovery from abdominal surgery on January 16. “Trust continues to be a concern following the release of Harry’s revealing memoir, Spare, and the Netflix docuseries with Meghan,” People writes.
A source close to the royal household told People at the time “It would be the normal run of things to go and see your sister-in-law who’s had a serious operation and also see your niece and nephews. But it isn’t normal. It’s terribly sad.” Especially so, since Kate and Harry were once close.
In an interview with Good Morning America not long after visiting the U.K., Harry said “Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.” And who knows? He could attempt to see the Wales family again as work takes him back to the U.K.; Harry indicated he had future trips planned to his home country. “I’ll stop in and see my family as much as I can,” he said.
As Meghan stays busy launching her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, public relations expert Ryan McCormick told OK that he believes Kate’s current health challenges will help the family reunite. “Meghan and Harry now have a golden opportunity to not only accelerate healing their rif[t] with the royal family, but to restore some of their likability in the eyes of the public,” McCormick said. “If I was advising Meghan, I would tell her to speak loud and passionate in defense of Kate.”