A meeting to resolve tensions could be on the horizon for Prince William and Prince Harry, following the publication of the latter's new memoir. A royal source has said that Harry has called for a reconciliation on several occasions, asking for "an apology" from his Royal Family, but they have "shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile."
Any reunion would need to take place before their father King Charles' coronation, the Mirror reports. Following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's departure from the Windsor family, Harry's new biography Spare has detailed several spats between the royal brothers.
“It’s going to take flexibility on all sides, but it can be done, it’s fixable," the source revealed. “It needs Harry over here, in the room with the King and Prince of Wales, a couple of other family members, some of ‘his people’ he trusts who always had his back, so he doesn’t think he’s being ambushed.
"Someone like Elf [Ed Lane Fox, Harry’s former private secretary] and Christopher [Lord Geidt, the late Queen’s former private secretary who advised the Sussexes]. Both sides need to hold their hands up and admit 'we didn’t get everything right, and we got a lot wrong', and we have to say to him ‘we understand the pain you’ve been through’. The King can do it.”
Since the publication of Harry's memoir, which has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever, the King and Prince of Wales were pictured continuing as normal with their royal engagements in Scotland and Liverpool this week.
Yet the memoir is unsparing towards his brother William, who is believed to be "burning inside" about his brother's disloyalty. “He is loyal to the throne and understands what needs to be done for the country,” says the source, who also knows William well.
“Not everyone here behaved well, but Harry’s got to be able to sit down and say ‘we didn’t behave well either’. That takes a lot of academic flexibility, which Harry isn’t great at.”
The source believes any reconciliation needs to happen soon. “We’ve got to move on it, and get it done by April," they added. "Then, we need to get the wives in. The King needs a clear run for the coronation.”
Another well-placed royal source agrees: “They have to invite them in before the coronation, or it will become such a circus and distraction.” If such a reconciliation were to take place, there is speculation as to which figure would preside over it, with the Archbishop of Canterbury deemed a suitably trustworthy figure.
Asked last month if reconciliation was possible, Justin Welby said: “There is always a way forward. But it has to be at the right time.”
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph last week, Harry acknowledged that his family would find it hard to forgive his betrayal. He said: “Some of the stuff I’ve put in there, well, they will never forgive me anyway. But the way I see it is, I’m willing to forgive you for everything you’ve done.”
In his memoir, he insisted he is not trying to collapse the monarchy, but "save them from themselves". In the same interview, he said it was his “life’s mission to right the wrongs of the very thing that drove us out” and to “fix” things: “When you’re trying to change an institution … that is not a small task. The scale of the challenge is enormous.”
Yet a former royal aide who was in the eye of several previous royal storms, said: “It’s a bump in the road. It’s not an abdication. When the Princess of Wales died, people said it would lead to the end of the monarchy. It didn’t. This is a knock, it’s not Armageddon.”
A close friend of both William and Harry’s believes a reconciliation needs to take place, for the sake of both brothers. The silence for now has been the right thing, but this is not going to go away.
"This has to be resolved and neutralised, so that when William has the top job, his brother isn’t still sniping from the sidelines. I genuinely don’t think this is the end of things. Harry simply cannot do without his brother.”
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