Prince Harry allegedly turned down an invite to spend the anniversary of the Queen’s death at Balmoral with his family, it has been revealed.
The King is said to have extended an offer to his son to join him in Balmoral amid high tensions between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family, reports The Sun.
However, Harry - who was already in the UK to attend the annual WellChild Awards - rejected the olive branch and, instead, spent the morning of September 8 alone before jetting off to Germany for the Invictus Games.
The Sun also has revealed that Charles’ peace offering came after the Duke of Sussex put in a formal request to the King’s office for royal accommodation and security during his one-night stay in the UK.
The outlet further claims that the Prince was told by a senior aide that none of the royal family’s homes in London and Windsor were available as a majority of the staff were in Scotland with the King and Queen.
Instead, Harry was offered the opportunity to join the rest of his family in Balmoral in what would have been their first extended period together since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. The Sun reports that Harry declined the invitation, citing a busy schedule as the reason.
Prince Harry was seen leaving St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on September 8, where the late Queen was laid to rest.
Just 800 kilometres away, the King and Queen held a private vigil at the small Crathie Kirk church in Scotland.
In recent years, Prince Harry has been mostly estranged from the rest of his family, following his revelations regarding the monarchy and public criticisms of them in his memoir Spare and Netflix docu-series. However, it is said that his father still keeps contact with him occasionally, despite being deeply hurt by his son’s actions.
Prince William, on the other hand, is reportedly furious with his brother and has no intention of working things out with him.
Both Charles and William have been devastated by the Sussexes’ blows towards their wives, with Harry dubbing his stepmother Camilla as “dangerous” and a “villain”.
Simultaneously, in Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex emphasised Kate Middleton’s coldness towards her and divulged that she had made her cry in the lead-up to her wedding.
This comes after the latest reports claimed that both Charles and William were contemplating meeting for peace talks with Harry during his layover in the UK once the Games had commenced.
“King Charles is due to return to London from Balmoral in the middle of September which ties with the end of Harry’s Invictus Games trip to Dusseldorf,” a royal insider told OK! magazine.
“The King has a rescheduled official visit to France on September 20 so has a few days to spare in London to meet with his son. Staff are trying to finetune the details as we speak.”
However, the speculation was quickly put out by the Daily Beast, with an insider close to the Prince of Wales alleging that he felt “utterly betrayed” by the Duke of Sussex.
“Charles won’t be seeing Harry and nor will William. No chance. He feels utterly betrayed by what Harry wrote about him in the book and said about him on Netflix,” the source told the outlet.
Unlike William, Charles is leaving the “door open” for a reconciliation with his son, the source adds.
Despite sour relations between William and Harry culminating to their lowest point yet, Charles is said to have a softer view towards his youngest son.
“The King loves both his sons and his door is always open to Harry,” the insider told the Daily Beast.