Friends say the relationship is as “strong as ever” after fresh smears in new book Endgame by Omid Scobie, biographer of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.
However, insiders insist relationship. Sources close to Charles and his elder son say that their relationship has, if anything, improved say the relationship between Charles and his elder son has, if anything, improved since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex broke with much of the Royal Family and quit to live abroad.
It is however accepted that there are occasional tensions.One source said: “The crisis over Harry and Meghan really brought them closer together. Relations between the King and his son are as strong as ever.”
Another insisted: “They talk regularly and are in complete harmony as to their respective roles. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue.
The simple fact is that the King and his son are united in how they see the monarchy developing and adapting to changes in society. They both have their own interests, but many of them overlap and they are fully supportive of each other.
“Claims they are in some kind of competition with each other are mischief making and nonsense.” The sources pointed to a happy Father’s Day photo, taken by the Princess of Wales and released in June 2020, as the first outward sign of a strengthened relationship between the pair.
Shot a year before, as tensions deepened with Harry, it depicted Charles resting his head on William’s shoulder while his son put an arm around him.
One source said: “It was no accident that it was released. These things don’t happen by accident.” Staff at both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have been ordered not to further fuel the fire over Scobie’s latest book, which alleges that the future of the monarchy is in crisis with the institution fighting for its very survival.
But privately some friends of the family have expressed outrage at Scobie’s portrayal, arguing that much of it is nonsense.
Allegations over the King’s relationship with William have caused particular irritation, as the author cited a source saying: “William [doesn’t] think his father is competent enough, quite frankly. Though they share passions and interests, their style of leadership is completely different.”
Scobie paints the relationship as fractious, writing: “Distrust and simmering animosity between father and son are nothing new to their working relationship.”
Yet Charles, 75, and William, 41, have worked closely together on modernising the monarchy, focusing on a more campaigning style and on issues such as the environment and bringing different faiths and races closer.
The one main difference seems to be their current approach to Harry and Meghan.
Charles has shown a willingness to extend an occasional olive branch to his younger son, taking a call from him and Meghan on his birthday this month despite suspicions it was a stunt to boost the Sussexes’ brand.
But for the Prince and Princess of Wales it is still too soon to think about any bridge building with the absent couple.
Meanwhile aides of William and Kate have suggested that one of the main reasons they have not yet visited key Commonwealth realms such as Australia and New Zealand is their respect for the monarch.
While other royals such as Princess Anne and Prince Edward have been Down Under, the greater publicity that William and Kate attract has raised fears they might steal the monarch’s thunder as he has not yet paid a visit during his 14-month reign.
The book also accuses Kate of ignoring Meghan’s “cries for help” and more generally of being “cold” if she does not like someone.
Scobie, 42, writes: “This is a side of Kate that rarely gets written about. “Advocating for mental health causes – the mental health of mothers, for that matter – but ignoring her own sister-in-law’s cries for help seemed out of character for someone the public knew as sweet and easy to get along with.”
The author also claims that the Queen is someone who “rolls her eyes” when subjects such as veganism or gender identity are mentioned.
Friends accept that Camilla, 76, is an ardent defender of freedom of speech and she will joke about political correctness. She has criticised the rewriting of Roald Dahl’s books to avoid upsetting modern sensibilities on topics such as weight and gender.
At her 75th birthday celebration with national treasures in July last year Camilla joked: “Ladies and gentlemen, if I’m allowed to call you that…”
But 10 years ago and long before Harry and Meghan were meeting gender-fluid youngsters at public engagements, the Daily Express watched on as Camilla happily chatted, unfazed and charming, to a transgender person in London.
The occasion in St Paul’s Cathedral was the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Voluntary Service. Scobie goes on to make a series of unsubstantiated allegations that William and other members of his family “covertly sanctioned” leaks to reporters about his brother Harry, 39.
He further alleges that Charles and his daughter-in-law Meghan, 42, exchanged letters after her controversial interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey.
The contents of the supposed letters are said to reveal the identity of the two people who, the Duchess of Sussex alleged, had raised “concerns” about the colour of then-unborn Prince Archie’s skin.
Scobie – who with Carolyn Durand co-authored Finding Freedom, a highly positive 2020 biography of the Sussexes – suggests that the monarchy is in big trouble.
He writes in Endgame: “The new King is still dealing with the fallout from his inability to convene and command his own family.
“His ineptitude surrounding the Harry and Meghan saga has effectively turned the couple into the disruptors they were feared to become in the first place.”
