A royal expert has claimed that Prince Harry seems ready to ‘forgive’ and build bridges with his family, but that two other senior royals are ‘resisting’ any possible reconciliation
It has been no secret that relations between Prince Harry and the rest of the Royal Family have been pretty strained in recent years.
The Duke of Sussex has been candid about his issues with his father King Charles, stepmother Queen Camilla, and elder brother Prince William – and since Harry moved to California with his wife Meghan back in 2020, he has only been reunited with his relatives on a handful of occasions.
From his bombshell sit-down with Oprah back in 2021 to the publication of his memoir Spare, Harry has opened the lid on the private lives of the House of Windsor, and their dynamics behind closed doors. The Duke has been candid about his personal gripes with his family and levied serious allegations against them including, royal aides leaking stories, and that his brother William physically assaulted him – none of which is reported to have gone down well with the rest of the senior royals.
In Spare, Harry made it clear that being a public figure from his birth comes with some serious challenges, and that the public sense of who he was being at odds with his own characterisation of himself created a conflict that he found difficult to manage emotionally. Whether the Royal Family liked it or not, the memoir gave the Duke of Sussex the opportunity to tell his own life story, in his own way.
In an interview promoting his memoir, when Harry was asked about whether reconciliation with his family was possible, he said that the “ball is in their court” and that from his perspective the “door is always open” – and a royal expert has recently claimed that in the time that has passed, it is still Harry who is ready to build bridges, with his father and brother still reticent and “resisting” doing so.
As reported in The Express, Jennie Bond – formerly the BBC’s royal correspondent – said on Times Radio that in her opinion after Harry initially being the one who was pushing his family away, the tables have now firmly turned.
“Early on it was Harry, who was demanding an apology. There was going to be no meeting of minds or meeting in reality until there was an apology for the affronts he thought had been made to his wife. But now I think the tables have turned somewhat. Messages coming from Harry’s side are that he’s ready at least to forgive and that he loves his family. He’s said that quite publicly. He wants to see more of them.
“But it is Charles and William who seem to be resisting reconciliation at this point so I think it was first one, then the other.”