Prince Harry has hit back against ‘categorically false’ reports that claimed he had made negative comments about his reunion with King Charles – so why are the palace ‘saddened’ by his statement?
After not seeing each other in person for 19 months, King Charles and Prince Harry finally reunited this month while the Duke was back in the UK for a fleeting visit.
In the weeks before, there was much speculation about whether this would be the trip that saw the father and son finally begin the reconciliation process – but a flurry of reports since have created some confusion.
Harry admitted in a candid interview this spring that his father had not been speaking to him due to his ongoing legal battle with the Home Office over the removal of his automatic police protection – a battle that the prince eventually lost.
While it was a bitter disappointment to the Duke to not have automatic security reinstated when he is in the UK – he has admitted he doesn’t feel safe bringing his children to his home country without it – the ending of that chapter saw the opening of another door: reconciliation with the monarch.
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Some of Harry and Charles’s staff were spotted enjoying an alfresco meeting earlier in the year after the Duke’s legal battle with the government had finally ended, and it is there where the tentative brokering of peace was said to have began.
This led to something of a new chapter, with the Duke even reportedly offering to share his diary with the King’s aides, to try and minimise potential clashes between high-profile events.
When Harry finally saw his father in person, the first time they had met since the monarch was diagnosed with cancer in 2024, the pair caught up for just under an hour while enjoying a cup of tea.
At first, few details were shared by either side about what happened inside Clarence House, with Harry only commenting that Charles was doing “great” and telling the Guardian that for the next year, “the focus really has to be on my dad”.
But since then, a mysterious cloud has shrouded the hopeful meeting as conflicitng reports about what happened behind the scenes have resulted in a scathing statement from the Sussex camp. Here’s everything we know…
Harry slams ‘categorically false’ reports
A report emerged over the weekend that included a source claiming Harry had said he found his visit with his father a formal one, as though he was an “official visitor”.
It also reported that Harry had given his father a framed photograph of himself, Meghan, and their two children: Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four.
Harry was quick to correct the report, with his spokesperson saying it was “categorically false” that Harry had spoken about his time catching up with the monarch in that “tone”.
They also corrected the details about the gift Harry had given his father, clarifying instead that the photo had only been of the two Sussex children, not Harry and Meghan.
“Recent reporting of the Duke’s view of the tone of the meeting, is categorically false,” the spokesperson said.
They added: “Presumably, those same sources have also chosen to disclose that gifts were exchanged.
“While we would have preferred such details to remain private, for the sake of clarity we can confirm that a framed photograph was handed over, however, the image did not contain the Duke and Duchess.”
Harry accuses people of trying to ‘sabotage’ his reconciliation with Charles
The spokesperson also said in the blistering statement that those “inventing” quotes from Harry likely had a vested interest in “sabotaging” his long-overdue reconciliation with his father.
“The quotes attributed to him are pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son,” Harry’s spokesperson said.
Another report alleged that Harry held the so-called “men in grey suits” – an unflattering nickname for palace aides often used by the Duke’s late mother, Princess Diana – responsible for the fabricated quotes.
Palace ‘saddened and perplexed’ by Harry’s statement
In response to Harry’s decision to quickly correct the report, palace insiders told the Times that they were “saddened and perplexed”.
“The reality is that senior aides have been working behind the scenes to improve what is a delicate but important private family relationship,” a source told the newspaper.
However, in Harry’s statement, he did not directly place the blame at anybody’s door – and it is widely understood that the palace hoped, as tentative progress was made between father and son, no details would appear in the press of what went on behind closed doors.
Harry’s willingness to speak publicly about private family matters has long been a well-known source of contention – so it seems the Duke was presented with something of a conundrum: let the incorrect report stand and it may have appeared as those he himself had leaked details, or by correcting it risk creating controversy around the fragile reunion.
William and Charles ‘tensions’
Around the time of the long-awaited reunion, reports started emerging from some royal experts that things were not all well inside the House of Windsor – but that the tension was actually now between William and Charles, rather than Harry.
Royal author Tina Brown claimed that one of the reasons Charles was “irritated” by his elder son and heir was due to the low number of engagements that William had been undertaking.
She also alleged that “Somehow, William’s parenting dedication always seems couched as a tacit criticism of the King’s own paternal deficiencies”.
A royal aide told the Standard that the monarch and heir had long had a “tricky relationship” and that “William never phones his Dad directly but has to schedule a call through the King’s private office”.
Royal expert, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, told the Mirror that in her view it was only natural William might feel some “resentment” over his father and brother making up.
The expert said: “[William] has stood by his father through the past few tough years, he has stood IN for his father when needed, and he has stood UP for his father, declaring they are ‘very much not a racist family’.
She continued: “I’m sure the King would have told William in advance about his decision to meet Harry. But William wouldn’t be human if he didn’t feel some resentment about Harry flying back for a headline-grabbing few days, very publicly handing out dosh to charities (which is something the rest of the Royal Family do regularly – but discreetly) and strutting his stuff…while his brother does the day-to-day grip and grin business of the royal workload?”
Royal circles ‘suspicious of plot to drive wedge between William and Charles’
Meanwhile, whispers of a “plot” or concerted effort to “manufacture” between William and Charles were reported this weekend by the Daily Mail.
The reports said that the King and heir are getting along as normal, and while they have never been inseparable, they are in “lockstep” over big matters like the future of the monarchy.
“There’s now more than a flicker of suspicion in royal circles that something more calculated could be at work. What or who may be behind the conjecture isn’t clear. But it is a worrying turn of events,” the report claimed.
Harry ‘categorically’ denies driving a wedge between Charles and William
Amid a flurry of seeming leaks, some have insinuated that the blame for the reports about the state of William and Charles’s relationship could lie with the Sussex camp, presumably due to the fact that William and Harry appear to be no closer to making up.
Some also claimed that Harry’s meeting with his father was an attempt to “undermine” Charles and William’s relationship.
However, Harry has firmly and flatly denied this, with his spokesperson saying to The Sun: “Categorically not. Harry is not trying to drive a wedge between the Prince of Wales and the King.”