Princess Kate pics at Wimbledon deal new blow to Prince Harry peace deal
A truce between warring royal siblings Harry and William could be on the cards. But one of the brothers thinks it is a “huge mistake”
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In it’s 115-year history the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) club in London’s St James has never gotten more publicity than in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday, the Daily Mail revealed it was the setting for an extraordinary peace summit between the trusted lieutenants of King Charles and Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. (Has anyone checked on the fiery depths of hell for ice?)
Yesterday, the Mail revealed that Tobyn Andreae, the King’s communications secretary, Meredith Maines, the Sussexes’ communications chief, and Liam Maguire, in charge of their UK PR, had met for drinks at the ROSL for drinks in what been hailed as the beginning of the long slog towards a “rapprochement” between London and Montecito.
“A channel of communication is now open for the first time in years,” a source told the Mail.
“It was finally the right time for the two sides to talk.”
But before anyone cues up “We Are Family” on the Clarence House tape deck, events playing out on the other side of London could prove to be a major stumbling block.
On Sunday as the Mail was reporting their scoop, Prince William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales were arriving at Wimbledon for the men’s finals. Glaringly absent from the ROSL drinks from their office.
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Whether William and Kate’s reps were either not invited or they declined for them to go (their diligent foot soldiers probably too busy for afternoon drinky poos, as the Queen Mother called them, when there are reefs to save and conscious farming manuals to read), the bottom line is the same. Any real and lasting peace would have to involve Team Wales.
The problem is that when it comes to loose-lipped malcontent Harry, his father and brother have staunchly different feelings. His Majesty has always stressed his love for his second son and is reportedly “devastated” by the years-long feud, even despite Harry’s blabby proclivities and the duke suing his father’s own government. (Dead awkward that.)
The prince, however, “absolutely f***ing hates” his brother, as a Wales friend previously told The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes.
The same friend told Sykes this weekend: “William will never, ever forgive Harry for what he has done. Charles is the king; he can do what he likes. But make no mistake: William believes with every fibre of his being that giving Harry and Meghan back any royal imprimatur is a huge mistake.”
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And part of the reason that the prince will reportedly not be readily extending any olive branches? Harry’s inclusion in Spare of details about Kate such as her encouragement of him to dress up as a Nazi, her ‘grimacing’ at having to share lip gloss with Meghan, and portraying her as something of a cold fish towards the former Suits star.
Such is the froideur, if not ice age, between the brothers and their wives that William and Kate reportedly didn’t bother to inform Harry and Meghan about her cancer diagnosis. They found when the rest of the world did. When Sussexes “reached out privately,” per the Times, the “contact was unreciprocated.”
Which is to say that the King and the Sussexes’ staffers can stand each other any number of rounds of drinks but how real and lasting can any healing of breaches and mending of fences be if William, both as Charles’ son and the heir to the throne, is not on board?
Also, breaking from his elder son comes with the risk of increased tensions between the King and his heir.
There is also the question of the possible public cost in Charles burying the Harry hatchet. Would His Majesty doing so make him look like a magnanimous, loving parent or unpopular for welcoming back the person who (some believe) did the UK’s beloved Kate dirty?
Quite simply, Britain by and large adores the Princess of Wales – and has a dim view of the Duke of Sussex. As of May, 72 per cent of Britons have a favourable view of Kate versus 27 per cent who feel that way about Harry.
The depth of feeling towards the future Queen was on show over the weekend.
On the same day that the photos of the ROSL meeting were gracing the pages of the Mail, for the second time in as many days Kate was at Wimbledon, her presence being met with the sort of rapturous applause usually reserved for a minor deity or the original line-up of Take That.
Fans hung over balconies and photos show her entering the stadium amid a sea of phones held aloft to record her arrival. Then, taking her seat for the women’s final, the princess was greeted with a standing ovation.
While it’s debatable if the King would let public opinion sway things, him embracing Harry and letting the duke back ‘in’ to the royal fold some way could put him out of step with wider feeling.
It’s hard to find much sympathy in Britain for the Sussexes in the numbers.
A poll done by YouGov in May found that 46 per cent of Brits felt that the royal family had treated Harry “fairly”, twice as many (23 per cent) who said “unfairly”.
On the same day, 97 per cent of readers of the right-leaning Express said they thought Charles should strip Harry and Meghan of their titles.
Still, there is something of a deadline looming here. In 2027, Harry’s Invictus Games will return to the UK for the first time since 21015 and will be held in Birmingham and it would be a terrible look for the royal family to not do their bit and come out barracking for the military and for veterans. Harry, reportedly, has formally invited the King along. And that in turn would necessitate some sort of patching things up.
How to square the circle of Charles, Harry, Invictus, William and Kate is enough to make anyone’s head hurt and that’s before we even factor in the question of Meghan and Invictus 2027 too. (The duchess has not missed a Games since meeting her husband in 2016.) What. To. Do.
The only sensible, easy part to all of this – that the Charles/Sussex peace summit happened over a stiff drink. There is a time for a nice cup of tea – and situations that demand 40 per cent proof.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.
Originally published as Princess Kate pics at Wimbledon deal new blow to Prince Harry peace deal
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