Is anyone else finding it a bit macabre that the British and American media has been hyping Prince Philip’s funeral as a chance to see the body language between Prince Harry and the royal family? I mean… that the reason I’ll be watching, but still. During the Oprah interview, it was clear that Prince Harry still has a lot of disappointment and anger towards his brother AND his father. If anything, I think Harry is more disappointed in Charles, because Charles absolutely could have stepped in and changed what was happening in real time. Which makes it pretty convenient for Charles that the funeral narratives are almost solely about William and Harry and how they’ll react towards each other.
Taking the high road? The royal family hopes that Prince William and Prince Harry will be able to make some sort of amends when reuniting for Prince Philip’s funeral later this week, a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly. The insider tells Us that the former military pilot, 36, is focused on honoring his grandfather’s memory, who died on Friday, April 9, not the family’s fallout ahead of the late royal’s memorial service, which will take place on Saturday, April 17.
“Harry knew he was walking into the lion’s den so to speak, but decided it was important to keep his head held high and show his respect towards his grandfather,” the source says, adding, Harry “loved [Philip] very much and will always remember [him] fondly.”
Harry’s solo trip may give him time to work through a few things with his family, including father Prince Charles and brother William, 38, whom he claimed were “trapped” by the monarchy during the pair’s explosive tell-all interview in March. The brothers’ rocky relationship grew worse following the couple’s allegations against the family.
“The rest of the family are just hoping the brothers can grit their teeth and get through this without stress or animosity,” the source tells Us of Harry’s impromptu reunion with the Duke of Cambridge. “There’s also a hope that they can bond in person and put the past behind them, though it’ll be difficult due to the resentment and anger that’s existed on both sides.”
The insider explains that the siblings’ tenuous relationship may prove to be too much to fully set aside at the memorial. Both men will, however, try to take the high road for grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s sake. “The likelihood is that they’ll get through this quietly and be cordial yet somewhat detached,” the insider says. “They certainly won’t want to stress out their grandmother with any ill will or negativity, so that’s one positive.”
I can already tell, just this week, that Harry is speaking to his father’s staff and his brother’s staff. I doubt Harry has had many one-on-one conversations with Chuck or Baldemort, but he’s keeping it civil as he deals with their Men in Grey. Yeah… Harry will be able to publicly show up for his grandfather, mourn respectfully and probably ignore all of the other drama. I’m mostly curious about how he greets his dad. Harry is the one with emotional intelligence – will he greet his father with warmth and generosity, knowing that Chuck is dealing with decades of grievance and anger and hurt around Philip’s passing? Hm.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and WENN.
Macabre is the right word for it. He obviously loved his grandfather very much and that’s why he’s there. That’s a very sweet photo of them.
Is that lovely kiss photo of Harry with Charles or Philip? It’s really sweet.
Charles.
@Sarah … I believe that’s Charles and Harry greeting in the first picture.
And speaking of Harry and Charles. I didn’t find any anger in Harry’s voice when he talked about his father to Oprah in the interview. He was, perhaps a bit disappointed, but to me it was more like knowing one of your parents are disappointed with something you’re done or for not taking their advice and (we’ve all had this with a parent or a sibling) they won’t come to the phone when you call and the other parent/sister/brother picks up because “I just can’t talk to her/him right now!”
Harry indicated in the interview that his father had stopped taking his calls because he hadn’t followed his dad’s advice. It seemed to me that it was just one of those parent/sibling momentarily things that doesn’t last. And I’m pretty sure the Suits informed Charles that no British security could be assigned to Harry if he moved to another country, even Canada before Charles ended Harry’s security.
Well that’s what I get for reading before coffee! It’s still lovely to see a man being affectionate in public. More of that please!
Yvette, Charles could have personally funded security for Harry. I agree that Harry is hurt and disappointed in Charles, but I think there’ anger, too. Charles did nothing to protect Meghan against the media and then he pulled all security without any thought to Harry’s life, let alone Meghan’s and Archie’s. Oh yes, there’s anger, but Haarry made it clear that he was making his relationship with Charles a priority to heal. But it’s going to take a lot of time and they’ll have to work on that together. Harry will not be able to do that alone. There is nothing momentary about the issues between them. I think there’s years of issues that need to be worked out.
It is scary that Charles pulled security with so many creepy comments made on social media including the “fake bump” from the bots. To think that he would endanger his own family and it’s not that he does not have the money to pay security.
I’m more interested in how Charles will greet Harry. Harry has always been a gentleman, but Charles is shady as hell. Will Charles try to seem accommodating and warm to get some positive press, a la walking Meghan down the aisle? (Bonus if scenario one makes people think Harry lied about Charles not taking his calls). Or will he try to give Harry the cold shoulder to put him in his place?
I think Chaz, being a Natural Born Coward, will be edgy around Harry, because they both know what Charles did to Harry & his wife and children. Chaz knows Harry can talk, but is choosing not to, for now…
If Harry has been getting good help from therapists, and I’d wager he has, he will probably go Grey Rock around his family. Ask little, say little, keep everything superficial. It’s the way to deal with narcissists. It’s also the way to drive a narcissist round the twist – narcissists will mine you for details of your life and then attack you with them later. Deny them that and they just sit and spin.
After everything the BRF has put H&M through, Harry won’t trust them further than he can throw any of them if he has any sense, and he has that. He won’t tell them a damn thing, because he knows it’ll leak to the media in a way to put him and his wife and kids in the worst possible light.
I predict this will be a chilly meeting, but not Harry’s fault, because it’s the Royal Family’s abusive behaviour towards him that has given him no other choice than to lock it all down internally.
I’d bet that for as much time as he has spent talking to his family’s staff this week, he’s probably spent at least that much time talking to his therapist this week. I would be, if I were him. He will be on his best behavior, regardless of what his brother says/does. And he’s counting the hours until he can get on a plane to go home.
His therapist and Meghan.
As a second Liz I completely second this opinion
Harry is not a coward , that’s why he can walk in there with his head held high . If I were him I will just attend the service and peace out . It’s helpful that they don’t control him financially any more and he can now engage with them only on his terms .
What bothers me is all this emphasis on it being solely Harry’s opportunity to make peace. Like no matter what Harry has to come with his tail between his legs sorry for everyone he has wronged. Instead of say the Windsors taking the opportunity to publicly prove Harry was wrong and being warm and welcoming at the funeral of one of the heads of the family and like publicly embracing and “See we love him and didn’t do anything!” And instead they’re going to be cold and act offended and only lend more credence to his issues.
@ Tess, yes!! This is the most disgusting and offensive of the entire synopsis of the entire drama!!! They are expecting an apology whereas it’s the other way around!!! Harry and Meghan are the victims here, not Baldimort, Keen Doucheness or souled Charles!!
I know that Harry wil be front and center, sharing his grief with his grandmother and not engaging with his monstrous family members!! They call suck a big pickled dick as far as anyone is concerned. I hope he is staying with Eugenie, husband and little one too!!
I suspect the courtiers are more angry at Harry than the actual family. I can imagine them treating him with contempt.
Charles will be civil both in public and privately. William will be civil in public, in private well we all know how he get incandescent with rage.
Nah i think william is truly pissed with harry and the comments he made about charles must’ve stung. Especially since charles has spent 20 or so years trying to rehabilitate his image after diana.
Yes William is torked. My best guess is it was him that discussed the color of Harry’s children. He disgusts me.
Neither William nor Kate were civil at the Commonwealth event last year. Why expect them to behave better this time around?
He and Kate did not restrain themselves. William said hello to Harry and ignored Meghan and they both glared at Harry and Meghan.
The press has to let go of this reconciliation narrative. It’s not going to happen as long as the Royal Family refuses to acknowledge their role in the smear campaign against Meghan and Harry and that they have problems with race, xenophobia and misogyny.
I hope Harry’s private attitude is something akin to: “YOU all owe me and Meghan a HUGE f*ing apology—both for how you behaved, and for what you enabled the press to get away with.” His public attitude will be decorum and respect, because of course it will. He was raised properly, and he is a man of honor. (Lion’s den. Whatever.)
I saw a video on Twitter with a RR describing Harry as fearless.
https://mobile.twitter.com/tarmactorque/status/1381990823961706498
While I deign to cover her words it made me understand why Harry made his choices: signing up for the army, two Afghanistan tours, setting up Invictus and Sentebale, marrying a non white person, giving it all up to save his wife and child, speaking on the Oprah special and now going back to the lion’s den. I, like many others, have underestimated Harry as a person. And now I understand why Meghan, who was already pursuing her own causes and philanthropy, had a connection with Harry. I honestly thought these two were average royal and actress. I was so wrong and I’m proud to support them.
Harry took on the British media. Not many people are brave enough to do that. Charles isn’t. The opposition leader isn’t. Very few people are. I hope he keeps his head high. He did what none of them could or would do. There is a video of an American man talking about the things that Harry did to protect his family and it ends with him saying Prince Harry is a king. He was right on the money.
OMG that’s a funny clip of Diana and Harry, with a little boy William screaming with incandescent rage!
It is funny. And it’s behavior that’s to be expected in a 4 year old.
But from all signs and smoke signals visible from KP, it seems like that’s still his default reaction many many things. Very sad and disappointing for a 40 year old man who has had every privilege, opportunity put at his feet for the taking.
Alexandria, thank you so much for this posts!! I love the commenters stating that Baldimort raging with anger has been an issue since he was a child!!!
Diana used to call him “Billy the Basher”. It’s obvious that the temperment he was born with continues to this day.
This video is so bittersweet. I totally relate to Diana in her dispatch of tactics to get my oldest to do what I want. I’ll admit that it can be very adorable when kids are enraged and I always end up giggling inwardly at how deeply things affect them. Even little William’s raging here is cute and gets a smile out of me.
For a 39 year old man, not so adorable.
Thank you for posting that link, Alexandria. It made my day. Imagine what Charles could have learned about handling a Wills tantrum if he had watched this all-too-brief moment.
I am interested to see how he greets Charles, but I doubt we’ll see that moment, right? We’ll only see them when they are actually walking. I think he will greet him with a kiss, he definitely was disappointed and hurt by his father but I thought he was also pretty clear in the interview that he and Charles were working on their relationship. And it was reported that Harry talked to him ahead of coming to the UK (but not to William.)
We’re still in a pandemic and Harry doesn’t live with Charles so I doubt we’re going to see any hugs and kisses. Very rarely do they hug and kiss in public anyway.
I keep forgetting about the damn pandemic, lol. I don’t think we’ll see the moment when the family arrives anyway, right? We’re just going to see them processing down the church behind the casket?
No matter what happens, good OR bad, they will find a way to dump it in a negative way on Harry.
Frankly, I think this wall-to-wall coverage of the funeral is only because it’s hoped it turns into that movie “Death at a Funeral”. People want to see Harry snap and go full Rambo on Will. (Personally, I wouldn’t mind, as Will deserves *every* punch Harry could throw, but not the time or place 😄 ).
That’s what I was thinking when this writer said the family was hoping for no drama. I wonder if some of the family secretly hopes for Harry to belt Will.
Wills needs to be belted.
It isn’t worth Harry’s time or energy. He said his piece and let them know he had proof.
The way the media is hyping the fact the brothers will have Peter between them is like they expected a brotherly fist fight. Non-royalists might watch just to check on the body language.
I wonder if the likes of Rebecca English realise they are outing William as the senior royal who asked Harry the ‘hard questions’? Why else would he be so mad about the interview when he was barely mentioned. It’s a very defensive stance if you are completely innocent.
whereas if the firm weren’t going to challenge the revelations directly it might have been smarter to play the ‘disappointed at the revelations but determined to ensure supportive environment when he is king’ card so looks like what’s happened has nothing to do with him & suggests he will be the moderniser (as appropriate), that was promised when he got married.
Honestly, the boys just really need to have a knock-down drag-out and get it out of their systems. All this passive-aggressive sniping at each other through “sources” means their fight will last forever. They’ll probably never recover the relationship they had back when Harry was just the convenient scapegoat and third wheel, but they should be able to stop the petty and reach a place of respectful distance at least.
They’re not boys, they’re adult men and I don’t think one physical fist fight would do anything to relieve the tensions between them because William wouldn’t start to treat his brother well after, either.
I’m so sick of people constantly referring to these two grown men as boys. They’re nearly 40. And it’s not Harry that’s constantly throwing digs at William through the press. The 2 times Harry talked about his brother he gave diplomatic answers.
@ Betsy, no, there is no reason for a fight when the only logical outcome is a sincere apology from Baldimort and Keen Karen, but neither are coming from a place of forgiveness as they were instrumental in the smear campaign. Baldimort will continue to smear Harry until his last breathe, including the 🐀 🐀, as they enjoy bullying Harry as he generated clicks and $$$$.
Are you serious?
Two adult men having a fist fight?
No. Aside from any number of things that I could come up with as to why this is ridiculous (and I could go on and on and on), the act of fighting (physically or verbally) is an act of intimacy. It’s giving something to the aggressor. Why should Harry give anything to Incandescent Will? Why would it be his job to put himself AGAIN in danger of being injured in any way, shape, or form? Even if Harry “won” the fight, he’d lose something to it, and he’s already given enough to Will and that horrible family.
What a sickening idea, that they should have it out gladiator style. Harry deserves better in this life. William should not get anything from him again, not ever. Harry is smart to give him nothing but polite and professional treatment, with a firm boundary set and maintained.
A fight is an intimacy.
Harry is too good for that.
Frida K you are bang on. Harry stands head and shoulders above his brother as a man. He owes William nothing whatsoever, he has all the power and knows how to harness that power as a decent and humble human being. William is flailing in the wind…he may be FFK, but Harry has all the heart and soul William will never possess and that’s why he will always be in Harry’s shadow. He just doesn’t have what it takes to compete because he’s been catered to his entire life. FFK has no moral compass whatsoever and never will…No need for physical violence as Harry will always be the better man.
I don’t see Harry sniping at anyone in any passive aggressive manner, he’s been pretty frank and speaks for himself, not through sources. Now the fans and the various stakeholders? They’re having a field day. There’s two videos on Twitter that were linked in comments on celebitchy, they were brutal in their praise of Harry and takedown of Will. But Harry has been pretty quiet. He can’t stop other people from talking about him
When you’re dealing with a narcissist, the best thing to do is go “no contact”. Harry is doing the right thing by ending all unnecessary dialogue with William in order to prevent him from provoking Harry into reacting defensively. This would only prolong the bitterness between them and give William fodder to continue smearing him. It seems counter-intuitive, but William continuing to show his spiteful side in response to Harry setting boundaries and disconnecting means the strategy is working because he’s continuing to do battle through his courtiers and the media to maintain contact. It’s forcing William to show his true colours – that of a bully, a liar and a tantrum-throwing brat.
No contact is the best thing to do with a narcissist, but sometimes it’s not possible. In that case, you need to go “grey rock.” This means being boring as a grey rock. They lose interest in anyone who doesn’t provide them with fuel. Obviously Harry can’t do that when he’s working, but he can do it when he has to be around Will. It’s very difficult for emotional people (like me), but if I can do it, I think just about anyone can.
I was also able to tell my mother not to tell my father anything whatsoever about me, even things that seem dull like what I cooked that night. They’re divorced, but they still e-mail sometimes. Harry doesn’t have that kind of luxury because of the British press, but giving absolutely no reaction to anything Will does in person is likely his best bet.
They’re nearly middle-aged men. Physically fighting would only make things worse. As they are not 6.
I really, really feel for Harry right now. My one brother and his wife created a huge rift in our family and targeted my husband and I. My aunt recently passed and I HATED one of the first thoughts I had was, oh God how am I going to navigate this at a funeral? They aren’t having any services per my aunt’s request but my stomach immediately knotted up at the thought of having to be in close proximity to someone who caused such pain, and have to play nice. Maybe not the most mature approach, but all I could think when I heard Philip died was “ugh….stay strong Harry”.
Sunnydaze, I have the same situation in my family. SIL started shizz and my milquetoast brother held her purse, and it created a row/bad feelings (*right* after my mother died – she was afraid of my mom lol) and it quickly got to the point where both I and my dad haven’t talked to them over 35 yrs. We had to see them at 2 funerals (2 uncles), but they were outside, and could stay apart (dad and I didn’t go back to the house for the other uncle; we weren’t missed as they weren’t close).
My knot comes from when the time comes and my dad passes (he’s 93 now). I know my POS brother and his wife will want to be there for appearances, and I really do NOT want them there. They didn’t care about him all this time, so to me, it’s false and posturing. They caused my dad immense pain, breaking up the family. But my stomach knots up at having to worry about *this* when I will be grieving.
Don’t invite them, or give them the wrong day for the funeral. This is an event that will probably destroy you minus the repulsive family members. You will be an instrument of karma for a day. Live stream it because of Covid? Or send them the date that the will is to be read.
I’m sorry, I know these are probably useless suggestions, I just hate seeing people suffer such unnecessary grief when they are at their lowest.
@ Lady D, excellent idea a but @ The OG), you could even suggest to your father to bar their attendance was well. It’s apparent that your brother and SIL don’t care about any of you, especially his own father, so bar them from coming. They shouldn’t be attending as their 35 year actions speak loudly.
I already commented about this, but we made it clear to my brothers that they could come to my grandma’s celebration at X time. My aunt (grandma’s daughter) attended for the first hour, and she and several family members wanted to leave before my brothers got there. On purpose. Which was good for them, but I had to deal with them and other family members didn’t know we were estranged.
My suggestion would be to insist they come at a different time. Protect your own experience.
Try talking to the funeral directors; they probably see this all the time and if they’re good, they’ll hopefully have some constructive suggestions/options for how to deal with SIL/brother on the day.
I had the same experience with my brothers and their wives when my grandma died. The celebration of life party and having to be around them was awful. Excruciating. So many layers of pain and betrayal, and knowing how unkindly they treated my grandma in her later years. I literally went back to therapy to prepare myself for the ordeal. I probably won’t deal with them much again until another family member passes.
I feel for Harry in this situation. I was so lucky that the WORLD didn’t witness our dysfunctional interactions ad her funeral, and dissect every move/word/look. And I had my husband by my side. He is all alone.
Is that Charles with Harry in the photo, or Philip? The hand completely looks like Charles, but I could be wrong.
I believe Harry will be completely appropriate to Charles in public, as Charles is clearly grieving and was even seen being openly emotional at the makeshift memorial for Philip. Charles may even reciprocate with emotionality, if only out of the feeling of the moment, but maybe not. He’s an emotional guy, Chuck, but he can swing either way.
William will be a d*ck. He’ll be austerely formal with Harry and stare just past his ear when forced by protocol to interact with him, and Harry will revert to military training and be rigidly upright with him and Kate, get through interactions with them rapidly to get on to family members he actually prefers, like Eugenie or someone. Kate will look like she applied her makeup under a 300-watt bulb after smoking 12 packs of cigarettes while writing more Meghan pages in her Burn Book with Carole the night before during her military-dress cosplay fitting, same as she did at the last event they had together.
That’s my rough-draft prediction, at least.
That’s Charles that he’s kissing on the cheek.
@Becks1— Thanks! I thought it was, but couldn’t be 100%. Those fingers do give him away, though! lol…
The fingers and the rounded shoulders, posture.
We all know that Harry will be respectful and polite during the public events, even though he may get stone-faced around certain people.
However, I’m hoping that once in private, the very second that Charles or Will start with their scolding, self-serving nonsense that Harry just makes it rain BetterUp cards everywhere, tells them all to seek therapy, and hightails it back to the airport.
More like walking into a vipers nest.
My heart goes out to him. Walking in his shoes right now must be very difficult and emotional on so many levels. Lions’ den is the correct term for what he is walking into.
William and Harry had problems several years before Meghan. So it’s amusing that the media expects them to make up in a conversation or a day.
I sincerely doubt that Harry will interact with William at all. There’s no point to it so long as William refuses to take accountability for what he and Kate did to Meghan, so why waste the energy? I do think military training comes in handy for this sort of this situation. Harry will do his duty and honor his grandfather, and then go home. He will leave the hysterics to the Cambridges, and perhaps clarify details that the palaces release. That’s all, folks.
Whatever Harry does or doesn’t do, Prince TOB is going to spin it negatively to Wooten or Kay who LOVE to eviscerate Harry in their columns. Harry will be painted as unforgiving, hard-headed, cold-hearted, and now fully American for leaving without genuflecting to Will. I do not believe we will see much during the service as everyone will be in position and on their best behavior. Plus, Harry will not be near Kate or Will. The real drama will happen in the private meetings before the service and in the gatherings and exits afterward.
I predict stories about Will having to protect Kate during the funeral because coming face to face with Harry was so difficult for Keen and yet, being dedicated to duty, Kate put on a brave face to be there for the Queen. But I predict Kate scoots back home before Harry because Kate can’t take the heat. Carole and Pippa will probably be sitting in a car right outside the gates of Windsor to whisk Kate away from Bad Harry. I don’t trust them not to say Kate was in tears at some point, alluding that Harry caused it in retaliation.
It really doesn’t matter what they say. Harry is gone, they no longer have a say in his life, and he is never coming back. They can live in a stew of their own acids. Harry has chosen happiness.
Why would Harry have to get in touch with Cain’s people? Buckingham Palace is running the shit show.
Poor Philip would be rolling in his coffin, if he knew asking for a simple funeral would turn into a carnival side show.
The funeral after the Queens funeral presumably Charles, will be the worst as William will organize and the devil is in the details even in non-royal funerals. I am so lucky that my three siblings and I were 100% kind to each other and respectful at my dad’s funeral last week making sure that everyone had a role and a say. He died in March but we had a small family-only in person service in Florida and a large Zoom celebration two days later. Exhausting and sad, but we all walked away appreciating each other even more.. I know I won the sweepstakes in getting the family I did, and I am so sad for the people who did not.
Anyone else think “Hail Hydra” when they saw that header pic? No? Just me?
The Lion’s Den? More like grubworm’s hole.
Ain’t nobody thinking about those damn Ashy Larrys.
I am pretty sure Meghan sent him off with some bomb ass pregnant nookie and a cute little photo of Master Archie and told him to worry about mourning his grandfather which is the SOLE reason he is there.
Everything is else is irrelevant and a hot mess. And has taken a long time for that man to stop dealing with hot mess.
But I’ll have fun watching the BRF and BM shit themselves trying to spin it any other way.
I have an odd sense of humor, and I have been amusing myself thinking of how all the body language “experts”, who specialize in the eyes, (because you know there have to be some) are about to have their best day EVER. I am convinced that the reason these fools who haven’t remotely been respecting the mask mandates, and are in all likelihood fully vaccinated, are now suddenly concerned with wearing masks. In a room full of people we know full well don’t normally do masks (except Harry). They want every single facial tick hidden, that they possibly can. In over a year of awful, it makes me laugh. Hard.
I cringed when the cameras focused on Harry walking with William and Kate. Too bad they were not nice to Harry when he was with his wife. The third wheel again. I hope Harry can leave soon.
Go back soon Harry. Please no more third wheel photo ops with grinning Kate. Kate is now hailed as the peacemaker.