Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast wrote a big piece a few days ago, allegedly about King Charles not wanting to incur Prince William’s violent wrath by meeting with Prince Harry next week. That’s what the Royalist piece was supposed to be about, except Sykes buried some interesting information in his DB/Substack piece. Info like… Prince William really did not want to go to Pope Francis’s funeral and Charles basically had to order him to do so. Charles (through courtiers) also tried to get William to show up for VJ Day, only William shrugged it off, dismaying Charles. Basically, Sykes pointed out that Charles and William’s relationship is just as dysfunctional as Charles’s nonexistent relationship with Harry. Charles and William didn’t even spend any time together in Balmoral two weekends ago. Fascinating! Well, Sykes devoted another Substack to doling out more crumbs about the dysfunction: “King Charles’ No-Win Harry Dilemma is the Royal Family’s Dysfunction Writ Large.” Some highlights:
Friends of the King have told The Royalist that the King can’t win when it comes to meeting or not meeting Harry in London next week. One friend of the King said: “Whatever the king does, he will make his relationship with one of his sons worse. Reconciliation with Harry will be a provocation to William, who has made it very clear he does not believe Harry can be trusted.”
Another friend of the family who spoke to The Royalist delivered a stream of invective about Harry, doing little to bolster my hopes that the two are on the brink of a dramatic reset.
The immediate context is Harry’s return to London on September 8 to present the WellChild Awards. Complicating matters is the fact that the day is the anniversary of the queen’s death and royal instinct will be to make sure nothing overshadows that momentous anniversary. The working Windsor royals have no formal engagements booked for that day.
The Royalist reported exclusively this weekend that while Charles, as a father, instinctively wants to meet with Harry and reconcile with him, William, with whom he has an increasingly fraught relationship, believes that no member of the royal family should burnish Harry’s status by meeting with him or being photographed alongside him.
The friend of the king’s added, “Charles begged his sons not to make his final years a misery. Unfortunately that is exactly what they are doing.”
Buckingham Palace and Harry’s team have both declined to comment on the likelihood of the King and Harry meeting. Some have interpreted that joint silence as a positive sign that a reconciliation meeting could indeed happen, away from the cameras and without fanfare. It seems a slender reed to hang on to. The astonishing level of invective routinely deployed against Harry by the king’s circle was as viperous as ever this weekend.
I feel that if there was to be a meeting, there would at least have been phone calls between Harry and his father in recent weeks to prepare the ground. I understand that is not the case.
I’m not trying to minimize the very real damage being done by William’s violent tantrums and general laziness and stupidity, but this situation is just so typical of Charles. Charles, forever a ditherer, incapable of showing leadership or moral courage or an ounce of humanity. Instead of making a decision one way or the other – meet Harry or continue to ignore Harry – Charles fusses about with three layers of busybody courtiers and moans about how his sons are putting him in such a difficult spot. Enough. I hoped that the meeting between Charles and Harry’s representatives was more than Charles throwing red meat at the British press. I hoped that it was a signal that Charles was committed to changing the situation in his final years. Turns out, not so much.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Prince William, Prince Harry and King Charles III The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Service, Westminster Abbey, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724167805, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: King Charles III and Prince William, Prince of Wales before the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022 in Windsor, England. The committal service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, took place following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. A private burial in The King George VI Memorial Chapel followed. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 724223940, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Setterfield / Avalon
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- Prince Harry, King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, and Princess Anne The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Gun Carriage Procession, Wellington Roundabout, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724224245, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974325877, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974325984, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974326044, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- King Charles III attends the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974326050, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, attend a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on the 80th anniversary of VE Day, London, UK, 08 May2025.,Image: 996583685, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: JULIAN SIMMONDS/Avalon
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales attend a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey in London on the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025. NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 996584301, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Prince William of Wales and Prince Harry Duke of Sussex follow Her Majesty the Queen’s coffin on foot as it is transported during a procession to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle during Queen’s state funeral in the Centre of London. Featuring: Prince Harry, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince George, the Prince of Wales, Prince Louis, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, King Charles III and Queen Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, London, to view the flypast following the Trooping the Colour ceremony in central London, as King Charles celebrates his official birthday. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales with Prince Louis and Prince George, Princess Charlotte with King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 15 Jun 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
It means Charles is a bad father.
Exactly! This is the kind of man who chose his mistress over his sons and then teamed up with her to terrorize them both. William is terrible but he is an apple that fell from an apple tree. Harry did the work and broke the cycle for his family and that hasd to be a grueling endeavor. Charles is actually worse than useless his is toxic in his very existence
Ah yes, Chucky the Cowardly Ditherer.
Did they ever reveal the reason why he was named Charles and not George? Such a bad luck name for a king.
“ The friend of the king’s added, “Charles begged his sons not to make his final years a misery. Unfortunately that is exactly what they are doing.”
Nah mate. All your doing. You allowed your minions to harass and chase the Sussexes out of the country just so you and the Rottweiler would be out of their targets. Chuck is the king. He’s ultimately the person who is responsible for the shitshow that is the House of Windsor. The buck stops with this cowardly king.
His Rottweiler is in bed with the tabloids, his heir is a violent, angry lazy man while his youngest son – Cordelia to his King Lear – has found his HEA. As you sow, so shall you reap. Sucks to be Chuck.
It might have been that Charles was named that way because his maternal grandmother was Scottish. Anne and Charles were named after Stuart monarchs. Charles could have reined in will ages ago.
Charles is soooo random. If he’s supposed to be a nod to Bonnie Prince Charlie, Chuck is definitely not bonnie.
Chuck was and is an awful father. When he became a single dad, he fled from his responsibilities instead of stepping up so he could freely be with his Rottweiler.
What an awful man.
What’s even funnier is that this friend of the king is actually citing Spare. No one would even know that Charles had told his sons not to make his final years a misery if it weren’t for Harry writing about it. You would think Charles wouldn’t want his friend citing Harry’s book, lol.
Who’s the “friend”? Wooton, that Churchill/other friend or the Rottweiler?
Good point. Spare also implied that Charles has always pitted his sons against each other. He has never cared about either of them–and it feels like Harry is finally grasping this through tons of therapy. Charles never wanted to see Harry; he only ever wanted to use Harry against Peggington. This why Harry and Pegs promised–a promise long ago broken by Pegs–that they would never brief against each other. Notice Harry still never briefs against Peg; he is just silent.
That’s why it’s a lie. Sykes made this sh*t up. He has no contacts in Charles court or amongst his friends. Sykes is a KP/Willy’s mouthpiece.
And given his previous unhinged Substack drivel, he might even have lost some of his KP contacts.
this to reply to @Blogger, I could not agree more. You nailed it.
It’s just cowardice. For someone who spends all their time around people telling them how every decision they made was a good one, and how any pushback is unreasonable, unfair, or disrespectful, he still won’t just make a decision.
At this point in your life what else are you longing for? Either see your son or don’t. You would think you’re literally the king, you’re wealthy beyond measure, people literally bow when they see you, you’re supposedly happily married, in what that means to you. What are you concerned about? That your son that already doesn’t speak to you, but can’t take your job from you will be angry? Who cares! That the media will have a problem with it or the courtiers? At the end of the day, who cares you’re still the King.
Poor Charles just can’t win. And honestly, blaming it on William is bullish-t. So the king is afraid of William and that’s why he can’t talk to Harry? Please.
Chuckles wants to blame everyone but himself for the mess he is in with his own sons. He was a shit father and only cared about himself and his Horsilla. He is in this situation because he put himself in it. He lets his heir ride roughshod over him and he abused his youngest son to make sure his heir was happy. He has no right to complain about how things are now.
I do kind of understand where Charles is. My sister throws such terrible tantrums if I have any contact with our elderly mother and makes life so difficult for Mum that Mum has to hide the fact she has anything to do with me. It’s not fair, and, like Harry, I think this situation should not have been allowed to happen. But it is what it is? I live in a town 5 hours drive from Mum so it’s difficult to go see her so we have found a way that works for us. We text constantly and I suspect she’s even texting when my sister is in the room?
With young William being the shoulder Diana cried upon and Charles being an absent, emotionally unavailable father, the man the boy grew into should, by all rights, be homo or bisexual. The conflict between what he is and what he’s forced to be is the source of his rage.
That narrative about Diana “crying upon Willy” is one of those palace stories fed to the rota rats to prop up Willy and to paint Diana as mentally unstable and an irresponsible parent. It was debunked by one of Diana’s close friends.
Homo/bi-sexuality is not caused by inappropriate mothering. 🙄
So if Harry and Charles make it up William will be very angry, That makes William a bad person. William should be glad that they have made it up. After all it wasn’t Harry who stuck his finger in Kate’s face. A threatening gesture. It wasn’t Harry who named Kate as the racist either.
No matter what Charles does William will always continue to be “very angry.” That is just his nature and what is so ridiculous to me about this situation. Charles has no control over William or his feelings, his hatred for Harry and Meghan and how much work he does.
To exclude Harry from his life in the vain hopes that William might change and come around is just plain stupid.
“William, with whom he has an increasingly fraught relationship, believes that no member of the royal family should burnish Harry’s status by meeting with him or being photographed alongside him.”
This is what gets me. That they see it as burnishing Harry’s status. First of all, Harry just wants to talk with his dad bts. There doesn’t have to be pictures. And it’s going to make no difference to Harry’s status as he’s not coming back to be a working royal so what does it matter.
Because that’s how William’s brain works. Taking photos with world leaders makes me one. Taking photos with famous actors means that I have the same cultural relevance. Meeting sports stars, means I’m an expert at it. Even though his entire world is transactional, he seems to think that people interacting with him means that they like him best.
So, to him taking photos or meeting with Harry means that Charles likes him best. Not that he just wants to have an interaction with his child that separate from you because you’re both his children. No. He has spent his entire life being told of a hierarchy, and that he’s at the top of it. Anything to challenge that whether it’s the difference he receives, the houses he lives in, the attractiveness and popularity of his wife, the love and interest is children receive from strangers is all a reflection on him.
What a way to live. I’m obviously no fan of william, but raising your kids in that type of environment that encourages that thinking is setting them up for extreme failure.
Ooh. This is such a great explanation! It’s the context for everything. It’s hard to fathom living like that, raising anyone like that so this is helpful.
I always thought W’s nickname for Harry (Harold) was fucked up. You *want* to be William the Conqueror? You *want* to stab your brother in the eye and kill him and lord it over him that he’ll never be king (H doesn’t want it).
Why is it increasingly fraught? After the Balmoral bust-up? Or the Coronation?
The petty side of me wants Harry to meet up with Chuck so the rats can write 1000 articles of how incandescent Willy is 😂
Paranoid Willy – his father and bro hanging up on him 🍿
There is no adjective strong enough to describe Charles’s cowardice.
It’s not a dilemma. Charles made his choice when he removed H&M’s security and evicted them from Frogmore. But shunning Harry hasn’t made his relationship with William any better – if anything, it’s much worse. The picture is Harry surfing in California and William actively and openly waiting for Charles to die. It’s not a dilemma – it’s the consequences of his actions.
Those last two sentences are killer.
Chuckles is sovereign and head of the family. Bulliam is supposed to take orders from the king… not vice versa. QE2 would never have put herself in such a position. Chuckles has yet to take any steps to define his reign and probably never will, making him no more than an inconsequential footnote to history whether as it relates to the country or his own family. Quite pitiful in fact.
The only boom I can see is coin and stamp collectors are hoarding Chucky coins and stamps. His reign will be short, so get them as much as you can!
Of course Louis XVI coins don’t hold as much value as Louis XIV but as a piece of speculative investment, follow the market.
The only person to blame for the terrible relationship with sons is Charles.
The whole “don’t give validation to Harry” is baffling to me. They actually believe that the only reason Harry has any success at all is because he’s the disgruntled “former” royal who is making bank complaining about his family. So a nice picture would invalidate some of that, right? So easy but they’re stupid.
William sounds like a big ball of hatred. He hates father, his brother and sister-in-law, his wife. Hopefully he spares his kids but for how long? William may be the next one to develop “health issues “ in that family because all of this will take a toll. Just look across the pond at Thump and see what being consumed with hatred and revenge looks like.
I too wonder for how long will the Wales’ kids be in their father’s favor?
As long as they’re compliant?
I also wonder at what point the kids will read Spare, and maybe the Dimbleby book. If they haven’t read bits of Spare already, boarding school will probably fix that.
The real conflict and personal antagonism is between Charles and William. It has always been because Diana always confided in William and believed that Charles should be skipped over and William should inherent the throne after QE died. William hates his father. Harry is the pawn they use against each other. They are horrible people.
Charles didn’t do anything to help matters either by running after Camilla and basically abandoning his sons to their own devices after Diana died. I hate to say this but both Charles and Diana f*cked William up, and Harry too for that matter. They all needed therapy. Too bad William won’t humble himself and get help now instead of having weekly confessionals with Jason Knife, Wooty and Tom Sucks.
Wow, this article is just full of little tells and eggs such as “The astonishing level of invective routinely deployed against Harry by the king’s circle was as viperous as ever this weekend.”, Tom really went there and told the world yes, the royals are toxic af.
If Charles is surrounded by people viperously hating on Harry, then yeah, it would be hard to imagine Charles, of all people, surmounting that and meeting up with Harry. But maybe?
The thing I’ve never understood about the whole dynamic is why Charles lets William dictate to him what is acceptable and not. Yes, William is the heir, but Charles is THE king. So how does William get to dictate what Charles should do. When my kids get too pushy and I complain to my husband, he asks me, “Who is the parent, and who is the child?” In other words, they don’t get to tell me, or him, what to do.
Charles ALLOWS William to walk all over him. He’s a weak man. If I were Charles I wouldn’t let William dictate to me what I can and cannot do with Harry. I would regularly remind him to stay in his lane, since they’re so big on hierarchy over there…
Charles does not want to drop the ball, the most important thing is the succession. Therefore Charles has to keep Willy sweet, even if that means throwing Harry under the bus.
In this father-sons situation, who is the winner? The rottweiler.
She has the last (demonic) laugh.