The path to reconciliation between Prince Harry and his father, King Charles III, was another major scratch.
The Palace is reportedly “sad and confused” over Harry’s statement, accusing Harry of “stopping” his relationship with his father, according to the Sunday Times.
“The reality is that senior aides have worked behind the scenes to improve sensitive but important private family relationships,” a royal source told the outlet, adding that Charles’ friends were also disappointed by Harry’s claims.
Reps for both the Palace and Harry did not immediately respond to a six-page request for comment.
Harry’s poignant statement responded to Sun’s report that Harry met his father on September 10th in the UK after more than a year was “clearly formal.”
According to the report, the 54-minute visit made the Duke of Sussex feel like an “official visitor” to the UK, rather than a close family.
However, a Harry spokesperson told Page 6 that “recent reports on Duke’s views on the tone of the meeting are decisively wrong.”
“The quote arising from him is a pure invention that can only be envisaged by sources intended to interfere with the settlement between the father and son,” the statement continued. “Perhaps these same sources have also been chosen to reveal that the gifts have been exchanged.”
Representatives confirmed that Harry presented the photograph to his father as Page 6 had reported exclusively. Sources said at the time the royal family went to a meeting armed with photos and videos of his wife Meghan Markle’s children.
A spokesman for Harry said of the gesture: “While these details would prefer to remain private, for clarity, we can confirm that the framed photographs were handed over, but that the images did not include the Duke and Duchess.”
Despite Harry’s four-day trip, he will never be allowed to become royal part-time after he and Markle decided to resign as senior members of the royal family in 2020.
“The king is a tolerant man, but it is absolutely clear in his support of his late mother’s decision that there are no “half-half” members of the working royal family,” a royal source told the outlet.
“It appears that the person behind (Sussex) mis-sliced a short tea and cake slice because of the Treaty of Versailles,” the insider said.
A spokesman for Harry said, in response to Page 6: “The Duke has made it clear that he is his father, as it relates to his family.
