Two days after I exposed a sinister Establishment ‘plot’ to undermine the Prince and Princess of Wales and bring back the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, accusations were made public last week about a rival conspiracy.
The claims emanated from Prince Harry himself, who decided to voice his suspicions that unnamed ‘sources’ were at work trying to ruin his hopes of a reconciliation with King Charles and, eventually, the rest of the Royal Family.
Harry was moved to issue a public statement after The Sun newspaper ran a front-page report suggesting last month’s reunion with his father had been more formal than expected. It was claimed the duke had been left feeling he was being treated as an official visitor, rather than family.
The pair had taken tea at Clarence House, the King and Queen Camilla’s London residence – their first face-to-face meeting in 19 months.
In his response to the story, Harry’s spokesman said the claims were ‘pure invention-fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son’.
The spokesman did not elaborate on who the sources might have been.
Harry also corrected part of The Sun’s report about the gifts that had been exchanged. The newspaper initially said a framed photograph of the duke and duchess’s family had been exchanged.
‘While we would have preferred such details to remain private, for the sake of clarity we can confirm that a framed photograph was handed over, however the image did not contain the duke and duchess,’ said Harry’s spokesman.
The ‘sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation’ – the duke’s words – are understood to be officials or courtiers who work for the King.
Anyone who has read Harry’s tawdry memoirs, Spare, will be all too familiar with his contempt for the ‘men in grey suits’ whom he blamed for forcing him and Meghan to quit royal duties in 2020.
Harry nicknamed three top Palace advisers – who helped negotiate the ‘Megxit’ deal – The Bee, The Fly and The Wasp.
‘I’d spent my life dealing with courtiers, scores of them,’ Harry wrote. ‘But now I dealt mostly with just three, all middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian manoeuvres.’
Harry’s decision to make public his claims of ‘sabotage’ vividly illustrates the seriousness – I would say desperation – of his hopes for a reconciliation with the King.
Giving an exclusive interview to anti-monarchy newspaper The Guardian during his visit to Ukraine last month, the duke declared the focus next year ‘has to be on my dad’, who is still being treated for an unnamed form of cancer.
Harry had previously told the BBC in May that he would ‘love a reconciliation’ with his family.
His appetite for a reunion is, however, leading the duke down the dangerous path once taken by his late mother, Princess Diana, who became increasingly convinced that ‘men in grey suits’ were to blame for her difficulties.
Encouraged by the lies told to her by the BBC’s rogue reporter Martin Bashir, she agreed to give the explosive Panorama interview that ruined her relationship with the Royal Family forever and, in Prince William’s words, contributed significantly to the fear, paranoia and isolation of her final years.
There is no evidence of a plot against Harry. The Sun’s report is likely to have been the result of second-hand whispers from who-knows-where? In my experience, Harry’s remaining friends and colleagues in California are just as gossipy as the ones he left behind in this country.
The real plot is the one I exposed last week, which involves a relentless public relations campaign waged by the Sussexes aimed at restoring the California-based couple to the affections of the British public.
It is worrying King Charles has been drawn into this, aided by some key figures of the Establishment behind the scenes.
Since last week, I have heard claims senior Government figures are also keen for Harry and Meghan to reconcile with the Royal Family. Many on the Left hailed the mixed-race American actress as a symbol of change in the Monarchy when she married Harry in 2018 – and still yearn for her return.
While they may be happy to ignore the deeply hurtful claims she has made about Princess Catherine and others, I don’t believe there should be any reconciliation unless it is accompanied by genuine apologies from the Sussexes for the damage they have done.
