‘Never see the kids again’: Prince Harry accused of ‘blackmailing’ King Charles

Several insiders have come out swinging against the Duke of Sussex, claiming he is “cynically” attempting to “coerce” King Charles.

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Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex’s known hobbies include virtuoso Xbox playing, polo and ironing his comically extensive collection of polo shirts. (Well, I’m assuming).

But chess? Not so much.

The Duke might be many things (passionate, dedicated, naive, testy, a lost soul, in need of a hug, happy as Larry … take your pick) but a master tactician?

That’s the question we must bravely grapple with today after a friend of the royal family claimed to the Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes, in a corker of an exclusive, that Harry is using his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to “emotionally blackmail” King Charles over his British security arrangements.

Oof. And just when you thought The Days of Our Palace Lives couldn’t get any sudsier …

A quick spot of background – up until the gong crash of Megxit in 2020, Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex were protected by specialist police officers provided by the government. Decisions over who does and does not get taxpayer-funded bodyguards are made by an independent Home Office body called the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (RAVEC), which also handles security for people like the Prime Minister. Got it?

Then came the seismic events of January 2020 and we now know, thanks to court documents, that within days of Megxit, Harry’s private secretary was already being warned by the cabinet secretary that the duke’s government security continuing was no sure thing.

Prince Harry has grave concerns about the safety of his wife and children. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation

A month later, in February 2020, RAVEC officially notified Buckingham Palace that the Sussexes would no longer be automatically entitled to police protection.

Since then, Harry has spent more than $1.9 million – so far unsuccessfully – to fight that RAVEC ruling, saying that he does not feel it is safe to bring his family back to the UK. (He and Meghan have, since 2020, paid for their own security and those bodyguards can and do travel with them, but are not allowed to carry guns in the UK).

The issue of the Duke and Duchess and their family’s British protection was aired again last week when Harry appeared on camera for a doco about phone hacking called Tabloids on Trial.

“All it takes is one lone actor, one person who read this stuff, to act on what they have read and whether that is a knife or acid … they are genuine concerns for me,” Harry said.

“They are one of the reasons I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

Now a royal friend, who used to be pally with both Prince William and Harry but is now Team Wales, has told the Beast’s Sykes that they think there was more going on with Harry’s comments than might have met the eye.

This friend told the Beast: “When Harry was being kicked out of Frogmore Cottage, one of his lines was that Charles would never see the kids again. This is him going public with that threat.”

Enter stage left a second royal intimate, this one “an old family friend of several generations of royals”.

Prince Harry spoke of his fears on Tabloids on Trial. Picture: ITV

‘When Harry was being kicked out of Frogmore Cottage, one of his lines was that Charles would never see the kids again’. Picture: Benjamin Cremel/AFP

“Harry has lost his security case in court, and is now trying the emotional blackmail route to get what he wants instead, cynically using the threat of Archie and Lilibet never meeting their grandfather again as a tactic to coerce the king into overruling RAVEC,” they told Sykes.

“The idea that the security forces are going to allow the Sussexes to be attacked by an acid-throwing or knife-wielding maniac on British soil is absurd, and Harry knows it. Using it as leverage, as a reason to withhold his kids from their grandfather, is beyond contempt.

“Charles is being treated for very serious cancer, so even if he could find the time, he cannot just fly to Los Angeles at the drop of a hat, like Harry can – and actually did earlier this year – in the other direction.”

But wait! There’s more from a third source, a palace insider, who told the Beast: “I think Harry needs to ask himself why Charles hasn’t overruled RAVEC, which, for all the insistence that he couldn’t, he could, being the king and all. It’s because the last thing the Palace wants is Harry and Meghan turning up unannounced regularly or setting up a rival royal court in the UK.

“As things stand now, they have to give 28 days notice when they are coming and essentially need to pre-agree with the cops where they are going to be, or might be, at all times. That suits the Palace down to the ground.”

There is much, as a kale-certified Californian might say, to unpack here.

What is demonstrably true is that, yes, the King has seen very little of his Sussex grandchildren over the last few years. It has been widely reported that Charles has only ever

met Archie on a handful of occasions and Lilibet, a poppet controversially named after the

King’s own late mother, only once and that was in 2022.

So too is it irrefutable that in January 2023, reportedly within 24 hours of Harry’s memoir Spare being released, the King informed the Sussexes he wanted the keys back to Frogmore Cottage, their home inside the Windsor security cordon. Hardly the stuff of a doting grandfather intent on building strong relationships with his youngest grandchildren.

However, the idea of Harry “cynically” using his adored little ones to exert some sort of pressure on his father doesn’t sit particularly comfortably. The Duke might be (insert your own thoughts here), but his devotion to and love for his wife and kids is unassailable.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are accused of using their kids as ‘leverage’.

Interpreting Harry raising the same concerns about Meghan’s safety that he has been making for years as him trying to use Archie and Lili as “leverage” requires assuming the 39-year-old is playing some sort of three-dimensional chess game with his father, and there is not a jot of evidence to back up the notion of Harry as cunningly manoeuvring his pawns (and children) around a checkerboard like the Gary Kasparov of family feuds.

Also, can Charles actually “overrule” RAVEC? The days of the Sovereign being able to imperiously rule over government mandarins was pretty much extinguished about the exact same time that the plough was being replaced by the first steam engine. (Shout out to the industrial revolution!)

Late last year, a letter from Queen Elizabeth’s most trusted aide, her private secretary Sir Edward Young, was revealed in court in which she pushed for the Home Office to continue to provide official protection for the Sussexes after Megxit, saying it was of “paramount importance to Her Majesty and her family … that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain safe”.

Far from blindly chucking Harry and Meghan to the wolves, Sir Edward’s letter suggests that the royal family was aware of the threats they face, writing: “Given the Duke’s public profile by virtue of being born into the Royal Family, his military service, the Duchess’s own independent profile and the well-documented history of targeting of the Sussex family by extremists, it is imperative that the family continues to be provided with effective security”.

Yet even despite the late Queen’s intervention, RAVEC still made the call to strip them of their protection. Could Charles succeed where Her late Majesty failed?

King Charles has only met Archie on a handful of occasions. Picture: Henk Kruger/Pool/AFP

In September 2021, Harry started legal proceedings over the RAVEC ruling, however, late last year, a High Court judge ruled against the Duke. Early this year he was given permission to appeal that decision, so on this mess will chug for a while yet.

The ousting this month of a conservative government from power after 14 years will not necessarily have any impact here. An official spokesperson has told Newsweek’s Jack Royston: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate”.

One line from all of these royal sources that makes some good sensible sense is that the notion of the Sussexes’ deplaning in the UK whenever they fancy, thus creating a massive public and press ruckus as every available journalist rushed to cover their trip, is the “last thing” that Crown Inc would want.

Remember that “old family friend” who spoke to the Beast? They also commented: “I wonder, when they are older, how those kids will feel about being denied a meaningful relationship with the King of England. To deprive them of that experience, with all its importance and heritage, seems very misguided”.

But who, I wonder, is really depriving them of spending more time in the UK? If Archie and Lili do spend time in the UK in the future, I really hope they like jumping on hotel beds and have a lax nanny willing to let them pillage from the minibar.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.