Prince Harry’s ‘secret meeting’ request snubbed by King Charles and Prince William

Prince Harry has described the “painfully tepid” response he once received from his father, King Charles, and brother, Prince William, when he requested a “secret meeting” to discuss their ongoing feud.

This meeting took place one month after Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, participated in a revealing interview with Oprah Winfrey, where they discussed their struggles within the Royal Family and the reasons behind their decision to step back from their senior roles.

Prince Harry had travelled to the UK to attend the funeral of his grandfather, the late Prince Philip. It was during this time that he saw an opportunity to address “the state of things” with his family members.

In Harry’s memoir, Spare, released in January 2023, Harry admitted he felt anxious while waiting for William and Charles to arrive at their meeting – and at some point, he thought they had changed their mind about meeting.

When Prince William and King Charles finally approached Prince Harry for the meeting, he described them as having a “grim, almost menacing” look.

The Duke describes that when he gave them “a weak smile”, they did not smile back. He writes it made him feel “a hugely intense vulnerability” and made him think of his late mum, Princess Diana, with the hope she could give him strength during the meeting.

Harry revealed that when he said hello to his brother “Willy” and his father, whom he affectionately called “Pa”, they replied with a single and “painfully tepid” word: “Harold.”

Harry wrote: “At last, I saw them. Shoulder to shoulder, striding towards me, they looked grim, almost menacing. More, they looked tightly aligned. My stomach dropped. Normally they’d be squabbling about one thing or another, but now they appeared to be in lockstep – in league. The thought occurred: Hang on, are we meeting for a walk…or a duel?”