Prince Harry’s outburst over Meghan Markle left King Charles III with ‘anxiety’, and that’s how the rift started

Recent, Newsweek’s The Royal Report podcast explores the complex relationship between Prince Harry and King Charles III, as the monarch his younger son due to “full programme.”

Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, gestures after his visit to the Kaduna State Government House in Kaduna, Nigeria, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye(REUTERS)

The episode delved into the “anxiety” that may have been caused by a heated phone exchange between the two royals concerning Meghan Markle during the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing.

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This comes amidst Prince Harry’s visit to the UK for the 10th Invictus Games. Speculation about a potential meeting between father and son was quashed by Harry’s spokesperson, who cited, “The Duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon”.

Both hot-headed royals are responsible for the rift, royal podcast reveals

Jack Royston, Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent, expressed disappointment over the missed opportunity for the Windsors to mend fences and the move was a “shame”.

“I would say, in the King’s corner, is Harry can be hot tempered sometimes. I mean all the Windsors can, Charles is no exception…He’s a man who gets frustrated sometimes,” he suggested.

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Royston pointed out, “But there is one moment that sticks in the mind for me, which is that Harry blew up at his father as Queen Elizabeth II was dying because he felt Charles had spoken in a dismissive way about Meghan. And I just wonder, really, whether Charles might have taken away from that experience a level of background stress about seeing Harry, a kind of generalized floating anxiety that something might go wrong and it will be another negative encounter with lots of hostile emotions and him getting the blame.”

He stated, “listen to this passage from Harry’s recently published 2023 memoir.Spare, where he retells how Charles asked him to fly to Scotland because Elizabeth the queen’s death occurred just a couple of hours.”

Harry told readers that Charles had spoken disrespectfully about Meghan, and it offended him.

Harry wrote, “Then came another call from Pa. He said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn’t want…her.”

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“He started to lay out his reason, which was nonsensical, and disrespectful, and I wasn’t having it. ‘Don’t ever speak about my wife that way.’ He stammered, apologetic, saying he simply didn’t want a lot of people around. No other wives were coming, Kate wasn’t coming, he said, therefore Meg shouldn’t. ‘Then that’s all you needed to say.’”

Royston reflected on the quotes from Harry’s memoir, describing them as indicative of a “fairly hostile” stance. However, he also acknowledged that Harry’s reaction might have been justified, given the absence of Charles’ perspective in the book and the lack of any public response from the King to the claims made within.

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“Charles may well have been being dismissive,” Royston conceded.

“We don’t actually have any direct quotes from him in the book…perhaps he may even think in hindsight that he could have worded it better, but in fairness his mother was dying and he must have been very, very shaken up by that.”

“His mind must have been all over the place, you know, you must have had a lot of jobs to do as well,” Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent stated.

“This is one of the tragic things, that grief has an administrative side to it, it has a kind of business end to it which confounds your emotional responses and Harry will not be the only call that would have had to have been made.”