Heal the rift: King Charles’ first job to reconcile with Prince Harry

His in-tray is full, but King Charles III will first need to sort out a heartbreaking issue that has ripped the royal family apart.

His in-tray is full, but King Charles’ first priority will be to bring peace to his feuding family.

The 73-year-old wants to sort out his relationship with Prince Harry, and find a way to bring Meghan Markle back into the fold, even from the couple’s California base.

King Charles’s diplomatic skills will also be needed to get his sons Harry and Prince William to break bread.

And closer to home, he must also sort out Prince Andrew’s exile, once and for all.

In remarkable scenes, Prince William was seen driving his out-of-favour uncle Prince Andrew into the Queen’s Balmoral estate as they made a dash to see her before she died.

King Charles will also have to ease his wife Camilla into her new role as Queen’s Consort.

His late mother had insisted it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla be given the title.

The royal family’s feuds have reached fever pitch in recent years, with Prince Harry and Markle’s decision to quit their duties causing an earthquake.

Prince Charles will be looking to be a peacemaker. Picture: Julian Simmonds / POOL / AFP

Royal experts said King Charles knows his first task is to sort out his family so the Commonwealth can move forward following the Queen’s death.

King Charles expressed his wish to be a peacemaker ahead of a trip to Israel and the West Bank in 2020.

“I have spent much of my life trying to bring people together,” he said.

When asked if he considered himself a peacemaker, he replied: “I try. I’d rather be a peacemaker.”

King Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in June 2022. Picture: Daniel LEAL / AFP

King Charles has been praised for his international diplomacy. He also visited Jordan last year and had been working on easing tensions between Britain and Iran.

He will need all that experience to heal his family rifts as he assumes the role he was born to inherit.

Family has been important to His Royal Highness – he spoke glowingly of his father, Prince Philip, who died last year.

Prince Philip kept his sense of humour, even in his final days, as the father and son were in lock step, with a then-Prince Charles revealing they spoke about what plans they would have for Prince Philip’s 100th birthday, to which the 99-year-old replied: “Well, I’ve got to be alive for it, haven’t I?”

King Charles said: “I told him ‘I knew you’d say that!’”

That is the king of bond he will be hoping he can regain with Prince Harry, and, perhaps, also his rarely seen grandchildren Archie and Lilibet.

There was some hope that the grandchildren can be the glue that binds Prince Harry and King Charles together, with King Charles only meeting Lilibet for the first time in July.

“It was a fantastic visit. The prince was delighted to see his grandson and meet his granddaughter for the first time,” a royal source said at the time.

Prince Harry was in Britain for charity events when his grandmother died.

He made a mercy dash to Balmoral, Scotland, but was unable to get there before she passed.

He is now likely to remain in the UK for the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, to be held 10 days after her death.

The question remains whether the time together will draw Prince Harry closer to his father and brother, or if the stress of the event will tear them further apart.

Meghan and the Queen sharing a joke in 2018. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

King Charles tried to smooth the way for Prince Harry and Markle after they revealed plans to step down from Royal duties – acting as a key player at a family summit at Sandringham to discuss the move.

He also put his hand in his pocket to help the couple move to Canada and then California, with royal accounts showing he paid out more than $7 million to his children, including Prince William, that year.

Much of that money, a royal source said, was given to Prince Harry and Markle, despite Prince Harry’s claims he was cut off financially.

Markle’s interview with an American magazine last month raised tensions, when she claimed Prince Harry had claimed he had “lost his dad.”

But she later clarified that she was referring to her own father, Thomas Markle.

King Charles was able to overlook that slight, and the constant interviews the couple keep giving about the Royal Family’s dirty laundry.

He offered to have the couple, and his grandchildren, stay with him last week but was knocked back.

Royal sources said King Charles will keep offering olive branches, as many as needed, and that Prince Harry would be welcomed back like the Prodigal Son was embraced in the biblical story.

Prince Harry dashes to the Queen after her death. Photo: Supplied

King Charles, however, has taken a harder line on his brother Prince Andrew, who had a friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

After Prince Andrew’s car crash BBC interview, Charles urged the Queen to strip his brother of his royal duties.

Prince William’s decision to drive his uncle to Balmoral shows that in private Prince Andrew was still treated as a member of the family.

But it is extremely unlikely Prince Andrew would get a public role.

The key will be convincing Prince Andrew, who tried to steal the show when he accompanied his mother to her seat at Westminster Abbey in March this year, to keep out of the spotlight.

King Charles has had decades to plan how he would rule, having outlined plans for a streamlined royal family, making it cheaper to run and giving family members “less to gossip about.”

When he moves with Camilla to Buckingham Palace, King Charles will hope to make it a warm home for his entire family.

It’s a tricky balance given his home is also the head of the monarchy’s operations and often hosts world leaders.

But walking that tightrope of duty and family, which his mother did so well, will be King Charles’ top priority.

Originally published as Heal the rift: King Charles’ first job to reconcile with Prince Harry