With each of Prince Harry’s baseless accusations against his family and emotionally charged TV rants, King Charles’ heart has sunk lower and lower.
The 38-year-old’s latest appearances, with 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper in the US and ITV’s Tom Bradby in the UK, have drawn condemnation of hypocrisy from his loudest critics – but for those closest to Harry, they see a sadder side of the duke’s constant need to attack the royal family from his new home in California.
Prince Harry has made a lot of allegations after his royal exit.
(Image: Getty)“Harry has made his case over and over again, and the more he goes on, the more desperate he sounds to provoke some kind of reaction from the palace,” says a source.
“Charles is finally starting to understand that Harry doesn’t hate him or the institution, and has started to see his public complaining as a desperate cry for help.”
FEARING THE WORST
Indeed amid his latest accusations against Charles, 74, and Prince William, 40, for leaking stories about him and wife Meghan to the media, Harry also, somewhat bizarrely, admitted he wants his father and brother back.
“As much as Charles hates that Harry seems hellbent on sharing dirty family laundry with the highest media bidder, his heart goes out to his son,” says a source. “Harry’s always been an emotional boy but he seems very lost at the minute, and Charles is worried about his mental health.
“It’s also a lot for Charles to deal with – becoming king in his mid-70s and watching his adult son publicly implode.”
“It’s also a lot for Charles to deal with…”
(Image: Getty)In Harry’s memoir Spare, leaked to The Guardian as Woman’s Day went to press, Harry details a meeting with his father and brother after Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021. He recalls Charles looking at the then-estranged brothers flushed faces.
“Please boys, don’t make my final years a misery,” Harry claims Charles said.
While it’s widely expected that Harry will go easy on the King and his wife Camilla in his book, with reports Charles warned it would “cross a red line”, experts agree that Harry has the Prince and Princess of Wales at the top of his hit list and if the series of bombshells that have already been leaked are anything to go by, they are right.
“Harry and William were about as close as brothers can be, and once Kate was on the scene they were thick as thieves with her. But the Sussexes ended last year basically accusing them of being ice-cold, loveless mannequins, which is something they’re expected to double down on this year.
“Charles finds it all desperately sad. He wants more than anything for Harry and William to kiss and make up but if Harry continues to attack his family in public he’s fearful there won’t ever be a way back for him and William. He fears this could be the end of their relationship.”
It’s set to be a huge week for embattled Harry, with his book also expected to address his trauma over his mother’s death with “raw honesty” – amid claims researchers for Harry’s book were delving into the mystery surrounding Diana’s tragic car accident.
HARRY’S BLIND SPOT
Another insider close to the King adds, “Charles is well aware of how much trauma Harry still carries about his mother’s death but it is very startling to realise that Harry can’t see past his own misery and see that he’s actually being hugely hypocritical by sharing personal details with journalists and cruel stories in his new book – exactly the thing he claims Charles and William’s offices did to him,” says a source.
“It also raised eyebrows when he said on telly this week that the royals want to paint him and Meghan as villains. Charles hasn’t said a word all along, it’s Harry and Meghan who are in charge of the narrative.”
Will they reconcile their differences?
(Image: Getty)TIME TO ACT
Woman’s Day understands that Charles is so concerned for his younger son’s wellbeing that he’s instructed aides to draw up a plan that would have him flying to California sometime in the next two weeks.
“Charles has set aside his own hurt from Harry’s behaviour and wants nothing more than to go and see him in California,” says a source.
“He’s always made it clear that Harry would be welcomed back with open arms, and in fact has told the Sussexes they have a standing invitation to stay with him at any time. But after seeing Harry’s erratic behaviour in his latest interviews, Charles feels he needs to take more affirmative action. He knows deep down he needs to be by his son’s side.”
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