Why Charles cut off communication with his son, Harry

Charles’ reason for cutting off communication with his son after he quit royal duties and moved to the US with Meghan has been revealed.

Prince Harry and King Charles.

Prince Harry famously revealed in his no-holds-barred interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that his father had “stopped taking [his] calls” – and the reason why has now been laid bare.

According to royal reporter and author, Robert Jobson, the then-Prince Charles had grown tired of his son’s constant requests for money.

“Charles stopped taking the calls, however, after his son had sworn at him and repeatedly asked for funds in their tense calls,” Jobson wrote in his new book, Our King: Charles III: The Man And The Monarch Revealed.

“When the queen asked him why, Charles told her that he was not a bank.”

After his father began refusing to answer the phone, Harry continued in his efforts to stay in touch with his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, after moving to California in 2020.

“The queen hoped that her grandson, having decided to live in Canada and then California, would find peace and happiness living the life he had chosen, but in the end she asked him to speak directly to his father,” Jobson said.

He added that a source claimed Queen Elizabeth – who died in September 2022 – had found the calls “difficult and wearisome” and she “didn’t want to interfere” in Charles and Harry’s relationship.

Charles felt he was being treated like ‘a bank’. Picture: Tim Rooke – Pool/Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their frustrations clear in the wake of their royal departure after they were cut off financially and had to pay for their own security.

It was a topic raised in their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 – a year after they’d officially stepped back from royal duties – where Harry admitted having his security detail removed had come as “a shock”.

“I was born into this position. I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me.”

Harry also discussed the issue in his controversial memoir, Spare, earlier this year, claiming that in the early days of his relationship, his father told him the royal family didn’t have “enough money” to support Meghan, and suggested she continue working as an actress.

According to Harry, Charles complained that he was “already having to pay” a lot to fund Harry, along with his brother Prince William and Kate Middleton.

“Pa didn’t financially support Willy and me, and our families, out of any largesse,” Harry wrote in Spare. “That was his job. That was the whole deal.”

Harry then suggested Charles’ issue with Meghan wasn’t financial – but personal.

“Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him,” Harry wrote.

Harry and Meghan aired their grievances to Oprah Winfrey. Picture: CBS

The latest insight into Charles and Harry’s fractured relationship comes just days after it was revealed that Harry had a private phone call with King Charles before agreeing to come to the coronation next month.

According to The Sun, royal sources claimed there is a “willingness and wanting to mend on both sides” following years of worsening tension between the father and son.

The Duke of Sussex finally revealed his coronation attendance decision on Wednesday afternoon, UK time, with Meghan to stay home in California with their two young children, Prince Archie, 3, and Princess Lilibet, 1.

Despite all the recent tension, The Sun reports that Charles is “happy” with his son’s decision to attend and “understanding” of Meghan’s choice to stay behind with their kids.

Archie will turn four on the day of the coronation, which has been cited as a major factor for Meghan and the children staying at home.

Harry himself is understood to be planning a “fairly quick trip” to the UK, attending only the actual coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on May 6 before heading back to America.

He will not have any formal role during proceedings and is not expected to take part in the royal processions to and from Buckingham Palace.

Originally published as Why Charles cut off communication with his son, Harry