Tom Sykes does the Royalist column for the Daily Beast. At least once a month, Sykes has an exclusive column about how much Prince William hates his brother. While I don’t doubt that Sykes gets briefings straight from Kensington Palace, I also don’t doubt that William’s “friends” feel like they can speak freely and emphatically about how William is constantly in a state of incandescent rage over all things Harry. I mean, no one is hiding it anymore – every royal reporter says exactly that in so many words. In recent months, we’ve heard from William’s “friends” that William “f–king hates Meghan and Harry now,” that William will not invite his brother to HIS coronation and William thinks Charles is an idiot for extending the invite to Harry. We’ve also heard that William believes that England is “his,” much like he believes Africa is “his” and conservation work is “his.” As in, William doesn’t want Harry to ever step foot in England ever again. Or else what? Or else William will likely violently assault Harry again. In any case, with all of that rage, hatred and violence simmering in England, William is now totally “baffled” why Harry is so reluctant about coming to the coronation.

Prince William is “baffled” by his brother’s reluctance to so far publicly accept his invitation to King Charles’ coronation, a friend of the prince has told The Daily Beast, and thinks Prince Harry is trying to “be difficult” by not announcing his and his wife’s intentions.

Harry and wife Meghan Markle have said that they have been invited to the coronation but have not yet said if they will come. In January, Harry told interviewer Tom Bradby that he needed to have a face to face meeting with his family of origin before attending, and told another interviewer, Bryony Gordon, that he wanted “an apology for my wife,” although without specifically linking it to their attendance at the coronation. Royal sources have insisted that the family will make no such gestures towards Harry and Meghan, firmly believing they have nothing to apologize for.

Meanwhile, the personal friend of William’s, who used to also be friends with Harry but has not maintained the relationship in recent years, told The Daily Beast: “William is baffled by Harry not publicly saying that he is coming to the coronation, especially because everyone thinks he will be there. Relations have never been this bad and it feels like Harry is just stringing it out to try and be difficult, frankly.”

Asked if William thought his brother would ultimately attend, The Daily Beast’s source said, “Everyone thinks he will.”

The king, meanwhile, is “working on the assumption that Harry and Meghan will come,” having not heard anything to the contrary, a friend of the king said, adding that the family and institution as a whole was determined not to be “distracted” by the will-they-won’t-they around Harry and Meghan.

One question likely to be asked in royal circles this weekend—especially if the couple do not make an announcement soon—is how Harry has reacted to the publication of the official coronation invite which unambiguously identified Charles’ wife as “Queen Camilla.”

Asked how William was reacting to Camilla being declared queen, the friend said he “will be enormously supportive.” They said Prince Harry’s description of how he and William had begged their dad not to marry Camilla was “ancient history and completely irrelevant,” and that William was totally focused on supporting his father. They said that while the change in her status from would-be Princess Consort to Queen Consort to Queen Camilla might have appeared rapid to outsiders, it was “no secret” within the family that she “was always going to be queen” and would not likely have come as a surprise to Harry, saying: “This has been on the cards for at least a decade.”

[From The Daily Beast]

This is actually the third piece I’ve read in 24 hours which has made explicit reference to Harry’s January interviews, in which he said outright that one of his preconditions for going to the coronation would be an apology to Meghan. One of the royal courts has briefed The Times, the Daily Mail and now the Daily Beast with the Windsors’ position that no apology will be proffered, that “they have nothing to apologize for,” and that the Windsors have “no desire to pander to his wishes.” Both the Times and the Mail used the word “pander” because (I believe) some courtier used it in the briefing. That’s how they view Harry’s flat request to acknowledge how Meghan was mistreated and have some accountability for everything that went down. That they would be indulging him, pandering to him by acknowledging their sh-tty, racist behavior. So, no apology for Meghan.

Speaking of sh-tty racists, I’m baffled by William’s bafflement here – as I made clear in my opening, William has spent months telling everyone that Harry is basically dead to him, that he f–king hates his brother, that he loathes Meghan and on and on. And now William can’t believe that Harry won’t simply come back when ORDERED. Imagine William being upset because someone else is “difficult.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.