King Charles is reportedly hesitant to patch things up with his estranged son, Prince Harry, citing potential legal ramifications.
According to one senior constitutional expert and advisor to the royal family, who spoke to The Telegraph for a story published on Saturday, Nov. 2, the Duke of Sussex's legal case against the U.K. government to reinstate his security could potentially be keeping his father, King Charles, from fixing the pair's broken relationship.
"Here you have the infelicitous situation where the King’s son is suing the King’s ministers in the King’s courts. That is pulling the King in three directions," the insider told royal biographer Robert Hardman. "You also have the situation where the King's son publishes accounts of private conversations, some of which have been, shall we say, wrong."
The insider was, of course, referring to Prince Harry's explosive, tell-all memoir Spare and reports claiming that the Duke of Sussex "misremembered" private conversations between family members.
King Charles and Prince Harry walk behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II.
"So imagine the situation if the prince were to talk to his father about his court case and then later to describe that conversation—or, worse, a conversation which was not entirely accurate," Hardman continued in the report. "There would be serious legal jeopardy. Harry would only have to say, 'My father said this' and a court case could collapse."
In July, a friend close to Harry told People in an exclusive interview that the King and his son are no longer on speaking terms, in part because of the Duke of Sussex's ongoing attempts to reinstate his U.K. security protection.
"He gets 'unavailable right now,'" the insider told the publication at the time. "His calls go unanswered. He has tried to reach out about the King's health, but those calls go unanswered, too."
"Harry is frightened and feels the only person who can do anything about it is his father," another source said at the time. Yet another insider claimed the Duke of Sussex is "determined to protect his own family at all costs."
Prince Harry and King Charles.
While the father and son's relationship remains damaged, sources claim that Prince Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, is urging him to "let go" of his security-related lawsuits.
"She wants him to be free of all of this, but she also knows that because of everything he’s been through and his love for [her and their children], he can’t," a former employee of the couple's Archewell Foundation told People in an exclusive interview back in July.
"She wants him to live in a world where he is not burdened by this," the insider added.
