Queen Camilla played a pivotal role in Prince Harry and King Charles’ long-awaited reunion.
“She is a non-negotiable part of Prince Charles’ life,” royal author Catherine Mayer told People in the magazine’s new cover story published Wednesday.
“There will be no reconciliation with him without her.”
Prince Harry, along with his wife Meghan Markle and their two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, met Prince Charles, 77, and Duchess Camilla, 78, at Highgrove House on July 10.
Charles, who is currently battling cancer, had not seen his grandchildren for four years. Details of the meeting have not been made public.
“It’s better for people not to know anything about these meetings,” a source close to the royal family told People. “They should be allowed to rekindle family ties.”
Prince Harry has a complicated relationship with his wife, Camilla, who is said to have had an affair with Charles during his marriage to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
In a 2023 60 Minutes interview to promote his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex described Camilla as the “villain” in his parents’ relationship.
“She needed to repair her image,” Prince Harry said of his stepmother, who married Prince Charles in 2005, nine years after the king and Princess Diana divorced.
Prince Harry claimed Camilla was leaking the story to the press for his own benefit.
“There was a frank willingness on both sides to exchange information,” he claimed. “And with a family built on hierarchy and her on the way to becoming the queen consort, that’s going to lead to people and bodies being left in the streets.”
Prince Harry said in his memoirs that both he and his brother Prince William urged their father not to marry the current Queen’s consort.
“We didn’t think we needed it,” Harry said. “We thought it would do more harm than good. And we thought if he’s with his person now, that’s enough. Why go to that point if you don’t necessarily have to?”
Prince Harry explained that his now estranged brothers agreed to the wedding because his father “wants them to be happy and he knows how happy he is with him.”
As confirmed by Page Six, Harry’s wife and children accompanied him to the UK to meet his father and stepmother.
But a royal expert said the trip “turned into a nightmare” after the Sussexes were denied taxpayer-funded security and Buckingham Palace withdrew its offer to allow them to stay in the royal residence.
We can confirm that Markle, 44, will not be attending the Invictus Games event with Harry, who spent most of the trip without his family, apart from meeting Charles and Camilla.
Meanwhile, Prince William did not meet his brother, but royal expert Kinsey Schofield exclusively told us that the future king “understands” why Prince Charles reunited with Prince Harry.
Mr Schofield also said that Prince William believed that Prince Harry “has not regained the trust of the family”.
