King Charles does not expect an apology from “stubborn” Prince Harry any time soon, insiders claim.
It comes almost nine months after the Duke of Sussex released his tell-all memoir, which broke with royal protocol to lift the lid on life within the Firm.
Relations between Harry and his family had soured before then, with the Duke and his wife Meghan Markle stepping down as working royals in 2020.
But Harry aired his grievances in Spare, with the frustrated Prince often portraying his nearest and dearest in a negative light.
Now, sources close to the King say that neither side is ready to start dishing out apologies but hope for a reconciliation remains.
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They told the Daily Beast: “It has been reported that Charles wants an apology from Harry, but that’s far from the case. [Charles] wouldn’t expect that. He knows the Windsors are a stubborn lot and Harry is no exception. The quid-pro-quo is, can Harry accept that he won’t be getting an apology either?”
The sources continued: “Don’t forget that Charles authorized Jonathan Dimbleby to write a book which attacked his parents, but ultimately they all basically forgot about it, chalked it down to experience and moved on. Charles wants to hit the reset button—but not at any price.”
A cooling off period was always going to follow the release of Spare, which levelled many serious allegations against members of the family.
One of the most incendiary claims relates to Harry’s fractious relationship with his brother Prince William.
At one point in the book, Harry claims his brother physically attacked him as their relationship frayed over the Duke’s marriage to Meghan.
Recounting a tense exchange at his London home in 2019, Harry says William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, which Harry calls a “parrot[ing of] the press narrative” about his American wife.
The confrontation then turned physical, Harry writes, when William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
The Duke also ruffled feathers with his father by taking a swipe at his wife Queen Camilla.
Harry claimed his stepmother posed a danger because of the need to “rehabilitate her image” after being referred to as “the third person” in Princess Diana’s marriage to Charles.
The Duke accuses her of leaking stories about him to win over the public.
Harry’s book flew off the shelves but it also tarnished his reputation on both sides of the Alantic, polling suggests.
Prince Harry was liked by 46 percent of Americans in the first quarter of 2023 – down from 52 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, a Newsweek poll found.
Around 26 percent of Americans said they disliked him – leading the Duke of Sussex with a net approval rating of 20, eight points higher than his wife Meghan during the same period.
The couple have not fared much better in the intervening months, despite apparent efforts to distance themselves from royal bashing.
A brand rethink was in order after the Sussexes’ lucrative Spotify deal was axed in June.
In the eyes of many royal observers, this was a telltale sign that Harry and Meghan’s campaign against the monarchy had run out of road and sponsors had taken note.
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