Unexpected development after Harry and Meghan’s private call to King Charles leaks

Just days after details of Harry and Meghan’s private call to the King leaked, there’s been an unexpected development from their camp.

Just days after breaking their months-long silence with King Charles, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now reportedly hoping to spend Christmas with the royal family.

A friend of the US-based couple told The Sunday Times that after the “friendly” call between the trio last week in honour of Charles’ 75th birthday, they “would love to” celebrate the festive holiday back in the UK.

However, they reportedly “haven’t been invited” by the monarch, although Harry and Charles are understood to be planning another call this week.

If they did arrange to spend Christmas together, it would be the King’s first with his grandchildren, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2.

“I can’t imagine the Sussexes would decline an invitation to spend time with His Majesty,” the insider told the publication.

“As of yet, there have not been any invitations for the holidays.”

The situation is certainly a delicate one, as Prince William is reportedly still furious with his brother and the pair are not on speaking terms.

The King celebrated his birthday with a jam-packed itinerary of official duties, followed by an intimate gathering at Clarence House last Tuesday – and it emerged soon afterwards that he’d taken time out in the day for a “friendly” phone chat with his son and daughter-in-law.

“The King was extremely busy but is polite and loves his son and his grandchildren, and not so mean that he would not take a call on his birthday,” a source told The Sun last week.

Despite visiting Britain several times this year, the King’s younger son has not seen his father since their brief encounter during the coronation in early May – and have not spoken face-to-face since the late Queen’s funeral last September.

According to The Sun, while a Sussex source described the call as a “turning point”, a palace insider pointed out that there was still a “long way to go” in repairing the damaged relationship.

“There is still a long way to go to mend the rift created over many years — and the deeper issues caused by allegations in the Netflix series and Spare are not healed with a phone call,” the source said, referring to Harry and Meghan’s docu-series and the duke’s tell-all memoir.

There was also some drama before Charles’ birthday even rolled around, with Harry and Meghan releasing a statement shooting down allegations that they’d rejected an invitation to his party.

Their spokesperson pointed out that not only was it not true – but that there had been “no contact” from the palace at all.

If Harry, Meghan and their two children do end up spending Christmas with the royal family, there will be plenty of logistics to iron out in regards to their accommodation.

In January, shortly after the release of Spare, the King ordered the couple to vacate their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, meaning that they now do not have a protected base in his home country.

It’s understood they would need a “formal invitation” to stay within secure royal property.

Harry reportedly put in such a request back in September during his brief stopover in London en route to the Dusseldorf Invictus Games, but was declined on the grounds that the royal family was in Balmoral, and therefore the London and Windsor properties were understaffed.