- Prince Harry and King Charles' relationship remains strained in the wake of Harry's new memoir.
- Harry says Charles' alliances with the tabloid press played a big role in his departure from the UK.
Since the release of his new memoir, "Spare," Prince Harry's relationship with King Charles appears to be as tense as ever.
In the book, released on January 10, Harry is open about his complicated relationship with the monarch, whom he depicts as a loving father who rarely expressed his emotions. "Spare" contains some highly personal details about the king, including that he struggled being "intimate face-to-face" with his younger son throughout his childhood and that he didn't hug Harry after breaking the news of Princess Diana's death.
The book also contains details about the breakdown of their relationship, with Harry writing that Charles disapproved of him speaking out against the tabloids' unfair treatment of Meghan Markle. Meanwhile, Harry was upset with his father for "wining and dining the same editors and journalists who've been attacking me and my wife."
In various interviews to promote his book, Harry has made it clear that he's willing to reconcile — if Charles is willing to make changes to the way he deals with the press. But after years of public strife, it won't be easy for father and son to completely rebuild their relationship.
Experts say Charles probably won't make the changes that Harry desires — and that a reconciliation appears unlikely for the time being.
Harry's biggest grievances are with the tabloids, not Charles
Both in "Spare" and in interviews, Harry has made it clear that he considers the villain in his story to be the tabloid press, not Charles and the monarchy.
When Harry and Meghan started dating in 2016, both immediately took notice of the "racial undertones" in the British press' coverage of their relationship, as a representative put it in a public statement at the time.
In the statement, the couple noted not only the "outright sexism and racism of social-media trolls and web article comments," but also private actions taken by the tabloid press, including reporters and photographers trying to gain illegal entry to Meghan's home and bribe her ex-boyfriend for details about their relationship.
The couple ultimately left royal life in 2020. Speaking with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Harry said that racism in the tabloids played a large part in their decision to leave the UK. He also said it "hurt" that his family never defended them in the press.
As Insider has previously reported, the press often demonstrated a double standard in its reporting on Meghan, who is biracial and has a Black mother, and Prince William's wife, Kate Middleton, who is white.
For example, Meghan was accused by InStyle in 2018 of breaking royal protocol by wearing wedge shoes. Months later, the publication praised Kate for wearing them, describing them as "the most versatile shoes of the summer." (As of January, both articles appear to have been removed from the publication's website.)
In 2019, Meghan was criticized in The Sun for cradling her pregnant belly; the same publication had praised Kate for doing so when she was pregnant.
Speaking to Insider in 2019, Kristen Meinzer, a royal commentator, said Meghan wouldn't be "facing any of these double standards if she were white."
"Over and over again, the press tears Meghan apart for crossing her legs, saying it's a breach of protocol," Meinzer told Insider at the time. "But do a quick Google image search of 'Queen crossing legs,' 'Camilla crossing legs,' 'Di crossing legs,' etc., and you'll find dozens if not hundreds of photos of royals at official events crossing their legs."
Harry addressed these double standards in the Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan," which aired in December.
"If you don't see the difference and understand why it's being reported that way, then I can't help you," he said. "I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't."
Both Harry and Charles appear to still want a relationship
In a January 8 interview with ITV's Tom Bradby, Harry said he wanted his father and brother back in his life. Asked if he will attend King Charles' coronation in May, he told Bradby that the "ball is in their court."
"I have a lot of compassion, and even understanding as to why certain members of my family need to have that relationship with the tabloid press," he told Bradby. "I don't agree with it, but I do understand it."
But before making amends, Harry said, the palace needs to take "accountability" for its actions.
"I wish that it would stop," he said. "I want reconciliation, but first there needs to be some accountability. You can't continue to say I'm delusional and paranoid when all the evidence is stacked up."
The author Katie Nicholl, who frequently writes about the royal family, said Charles is also "keen to reconcile" with Harry, and "has a great capacity for forgiveness, just like the late Queen."
"He has shown his willingness to reconcile in the many olive branches he has extended to Harry and Meghan, not least how they were included at the Queen's funeral," Nicholl, the author of "The New Royals," told Insider. "I am told they will be invited to the coronation." (Representatives for the Duke of Sussex and Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.)
The palace's current system incentivizes Charles to have a close relationship with the tabloids
The palace's press engagements are covered by the Royal Rota, an exclusive group of British newspapers established more than 40 years ago in order to allow access to events carried out by the royal family. The members of the rota include The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, The Times, and The Sun.
A select number of reporters are chosen to cover each engagement on a rotating basis, with the understanding that they will share their reporting with the other member publications, according to the News Media Association.
As Insider previously reported, some royals have close relationships with employees of these publications, often with the intent of getting positive press coverage. Members of the royal family rarely comment on these relationships, but Harry lifted the lid on the "invisible contract" between the palace and the media in his interview with Winfrey in 2021.
"To simplify it, it's a case of if you as a family member are willing to wine, dine, and give full access to these reporters, then you will get better press," Harry told Winfrey.
For example, Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, are known to be good friends with The Sun's photographer Arthur Edwards, publicly wishing him a happy birthday on Twitter in 2020 — even as Harry was suing the tabloid, accusing it of illegally intercepting his voice messages.
And in December, Camilla attended a private lunch with journalists Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson, both of whom had previously made critical comments about Meghan in the press.
Morgan resigned as the anchor of "Good Morning Britain" in 2021 after saying he didn't believe that senior members of the royal institution had denied Meghan help for suicidal thoughts, as she'd told Winfrey. Clarkson, who said at the time he was in "full agreement" with Morgan's comments, was recently criticized for a column in which he wrote that he "hates" Meghan and dreamed of her being forced to "parade naked" through the streets.
Clarkson issued a public statement saying he had written the column "in a hurry," and that he had emailed Harry and Meghan to apologize. "It is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate," the couple responded in a statement issued to Variety, noting that Clarkson's apology had only been addressed to Harry, not Meghan.
Buckingham Palace, on the other hand, never issued a comment on Morgan or Clarkson's statements — or on Camilla's attendance at the lunch, which drew backlash on social media.
Speaking to Winfrey, Harry said that the royals likely haven't defended Meghan from the press' unfair treatment because they are "scared" of "the tabloids turning on them."
To mend fences with Harry, Charles could reexamine the palace's relationship with the press
When the Sussexes gave their bombshell interview to Winfrey in 2021, Buckingham Palace responded with a statement that "the whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan."
However, Charles has yet to issue a statement responding to "Spare," or taken active steps to resolve the issues with the press Harry discusses in the book. For example, he could consider banning or restricting the royal household from the alleged leaking and planting of stories.
Marlene Koenig, a historian and expert on British and European royalty, told Insider that Charles may still consider releasing a statement addressing the issues between himself and Harry. But he's unlikely to make any significant changes to the palace's press operations, she said.
"Harry needs to understand that he cannot call the shots," Koenig said. "Unnamed royal sources are not going to stop talking to press. White House sources are unnamed. It is the norm."
While Charles likely won't change the palace's press procedures, Koenig said, he could still effect a reconciliation by showing his support for Harry and listening to his concerns.
"The first things Charles and William and Harry need to do is sit down with witnesses and talk," she said. "This may prove difficult for Charles, because he does not like conflict and he tends to keep such things to himself."
But Charles is unlikely to fully trust Harry, experts say
Koenig said that William and Charles are unlikely to fully trust Harry, due to the private information he shared in his book. "He is doing the same thing that he accused his family of doing," she said.
While Harry and Meghan rarely gave interviews as working royals, since 2020, one or both have given major TV and magazine interviews to Winfrey, Bradby, James Corden, Stephen Colbert, Michael Strahan, and more.
Mark Borkowski, a PR advisor and commentator, told Insider that there's unlikely to be reconciliation for Harry and Charles in the short term. If the pair were to make amends, Borkowski believes it could take a long time, possibly several years.
He said that from a PR perspective, the palace's current objective is to focus on Charles' coronation in May, which means Harry is likely to be kept "at arm's length" until then.
"The royal family never do anything quickly or randomly," Borkowski told Insider. "It's always calculated, it always moves over time — that was a legacy left by the Queen."
In the meantime, he said Charles could keep tabs on Harry "through intermediaries," working to gradually repair their relationship in the long term.
"When someone is so wounded — and Harry is so wounded — the job of the palace is to manage their internal comms and to protect their interests and what they do," Borkowski said. "And there is no place for Harry."