Why King Charles Might Cave and Reconcile With Prince Harry

There have been many false or unproven reports about King Charles III and Prince Harry, but sources close to the king say it is true that he needs to reconcile with his estranged son eventually. Insiders spoke to The Daily Beast this week, trying to pick out the grains of truth in recent rumors of “peace summits” within the British royal family. They said that the king is looking for ways to mend fences with Prince Harry in the medium to long term.

“It’s not sustainable for the king, who is the national symbol of unity, to be on such bad terms with his son that they haven’t been pictured together in years,” a former member of the king’s staff said. “Ultimately, Charles has not just a personal but also a strategic need to resolve the issue.” This follows the latest round of rumors about the royal family thanks to Prince Harry’s visit to Europe. While there, he was invited to visit the king at Balmoral Castle, which he politely declined on the grounds that his schedule was too packed already. This excuse was undercut when he went out of his way to visit his cousin Princess Eugenie in Portugal.

Still, sources close to the king said he is not in a rush to reconcile with the prince – nor is he willing to do it at any price necessary. A friend of the king said: “The Harry issue doesn’t have to be sorted out immediately but it will be sorted out eventually. Charles loves Harry but his priority is to fulfill his duty as king and not let his mother down. That means constitutional considerations have to come first.”

That friend said that the king is hoping to negotiate with Prince Harry when it comes to the apologies the prince has very publicly requested. Essentially, the king wants to acknowledge the gripes between them, then tell Prince Harry that he does not need apologies for the way he was portrayed in Spare or in interviews. In turn, the king hopes Prince Harry will accept that he won’t apologize for the circumstances that drove Prince Harry and Meghan Markle out of the royal palace. It is essentially a zero-sum quid-pro-quo.

It’s unclear how Prince Harry or Markle responded to these reports, or what the time table is for the king’s reconciliation plan. In the meantime, the Sussexes live in California far outside of royal influence.