Photographs published in the Mail on Sunday show King Charles’ communications secretary meeting with two of Prince Harry’s senior aides at a private members’ club in London.
Notably absent from the peace summit this week were any representatives from Prince William’s team—and given the deep personal animosity between the brothers, that is no surprise.
As The Royalist has long reported, William’s loathing for Harry runs deep. As one longtime friend of the Prince of Wales once bluntly put it to us, “He absolutely f***ing hates” Harry.
Asked about speculation that William would have supported the meeting, the friend told us this weekend: “William will never, ever forgive Harry for what he has done. Charles is the king; he can do what he likes. But make no mistake: William believes with every fiber of his being that giving Harry and Meghan back any royal imprimatur is a huge mistake.”
The meeting included the king’s most senior communications official, Tobyn Andreae, and two members of Harry’s team: Meredith Maines, Harry’s recently appointed comms boss, who is based in Los Angeles, and veteran British publicity rep Liam Maguire, who is now working for the Sussexes from London.
The fact that representatives from both sides sat down together—after more than two years of icy silence—is, in and of itself, a major development.
A source told the Mail on Sunday: “There’s a long road ahead, but a channel of communication is now open for the first time in years.”
“There was no formal agenda, just casual drinks. There were things both sides wanted to talk about,” the source added.
It was held at the Royal Over-Seas League, a stone’s throw from Clarence House, the royal residence on The Mall in Westminster, London.
Maines and Maguire arrived by taxi at 3.50 p.m., the report says, followed by Andreae, who appeared to be carrying a gift from Berry Bros and Rudd, the wine and spirits merchant.
The source described the summit as only the “first step towards reconciliation between Harry and his father, but at least it is a step in the right direction.”
“Everyone just wants to move on and move forward now,” they added. “It was finally the right time for the two sides to talk.”
One potential opportunity for a public reconciliation, which is being discussed in both London and California, is the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.
Since Prince Harry launched legal action against the British government over the removal of state-funded police protection, there has been almost no contact between the Sussex and royal households.
Tensions, of course, long predate that court case. The rupture began with Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, in which Harry and Meghan accused unnamed members of the royal family—later revealed to be the king and Kate Middleton—of asking racist questions about their then-unborn kids’ likely skin color. It deepened after his Netflix documentary series and reached a new low with the publication of Spare, his bestselling and deeply wounding memoir.
Still, in a BBC interview several weeks ago, Harry said he wanted reconciliation. “There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” he said. “Life is precious. Forgiveness is 100 percent a possibility because I would like to get my father and brother back.”
He added pointedly that he did not know “how much longer” his father had left to live, a comment that drew the palace’s ire.
Behind palace walls, insiders have long acknowledged that King Charles is more open to the idea of reconciliation than his elder son.
Charles was quoted in Harry’s book as urging both his sons not to let their feud define his final years. But insiders say William remains resolute. He was particularly upset by Harry’s portrayal of Kate in Spare and believes that Harry has repeatedly exploited the royal family for commercial gain.
In Spare, Harry launched withering attacks on Queen Camilla, branding her the “wicked stepmother” and accusing her of trading in family secrets to rehabilitate her image in the press. So when Harry briefly flew to the United Kingdom in January 2024 to see his father following the king’s cancer diagnosis, it did not go unnoticed that Charles insisted Camilla remain in the room during their short meeting.
But perhaps the deepest rift between Harry and his father was caused not by a book or a documentary, but by the legal battle over Harry’s police protection.
Sources at the palace told The Royalist that Charles was deeply uncomfortable with Harry’s suggestion that Charles could “click his fingers” and override the Home Office to secure police coverage.
Palace officials were also reportedly wary of meeting privately with Harry during ongoing legal proceedings, fearing any conversation might be later introduced in court, a concern rooted in the painful memory of the Paul Burrell case, which collapsed after the late Queen Elizabeth intervened, confirming that Princess Diana’s butler had told her he was safeguarding the princess’s possessions.
In May, Harry lost his final appeal on the matter and, days later in that same BBC interview, he reflected: “Of course some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But I would love reconciliation with my family.”
That hope now appears to be inching toward reality, at least in relation to his father.
It’s understood that Harry has formally invited King Charles to attend the 2027 Invictus Games, which will be held in Birmingham.
This week’s meeting has fueled speculation that the king may accept the invitation, marking the most public show of unity between them in years.
But William is unlikely to welcome any warmth between the king and his younger son. Prince William and his father have had their own periods of tension in recent years, and William reading about the meeting in Sunday’s papers will not go down well, sources say.
This has always been a three-way dynamic, not a simple father-and-son dispute. Any reconciliation that doesn’t include William risks deepening the divide between the king and his heir.
While Sunday’s photographs may mark the first flicker of a royal reunion, the path to true peace remains long.
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