Prince William has “no interest” in restoring contact with Prince Harry, friends of his and wife Kate Middleton have told The Daily Beast, despite the couple yesterday sending birthday wishes to Harry on social media.
Another source said their message was sent to “align” with King Charles, who himself sent a message as a matter of “routine” because it was a significant birthday—his 40th—and as things stand a message will not be sent to Harry next year.
The friend of William and Kate’s told The Daily Beast: “The honest truth is that William has no interest right now in reaching out to Harry and Meghan. He regards what Harry said in his book (i.e. his memoir, Spare) as unforgivable and, understandably given Catherine’s cancer diagnosis, just wants to focus on his wife and family first and his job second. There isn’t space for a complicated reconciliation process with Harry. It’s not a priority.”
The palace has not said whether Charles contacted Harry on his birthday, but it is understood William and Kate did not reach out in person.
William’s, Harry’s and Charles’ offices did not comment in response to queries from The Daily Beast but an official source in the king’s office sought to downplay the significance of the message sent by the king.
They said that the palace “sometimes posted for landmark birthdays of non-working royals” adding that “generally” non-landmark birthdays are not the subject of social media posts.
The decidedly chilly clarifications emerging from royal camps today will serve to pour cold water on hopes that the brothers could be reconciled, and raise questions as to why the royals bothered to send the messages if they did not, after all, herald an honest attempt to build bridges with Harry.
Such hopes briefly flared on Sunday when William and Kate’s official social media accounts sent birthday greetings to Harry.
Kate and William’s office’s message said, “Wishing a Happy 40th Birthday to The Duke of Sussex!”
They also reposted a message sent earlier by the king which contained a photo captioned with slightly different text, reading, “Wishing the Duke of Sussex a very happy 40th birthday today!”
Harry and the king’s relationship has been fraught in recent months, with sources close to Harry telling The Daily Beast that the king stopped taking Harry’s phone calls over the summer.
Charles has been angered by Harry’s long running legal action against the British government over his security detail, and is said to have been avoiding speaking or meeting with Harry out of a concern his son could try and lobby him to intervene in the matter, which he is refusing to do.
One palace insider pointed out that that message sent on Sunday had not been initialed “W & C” meaning it had not been sent personally by the couple.
The source added: “It was just a company thing. Happy birthday blah blah blah.”
Asked why William and Kate had allowed the message to be sent from their account if they did not really mean it, the source said, “It makes sense for Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace to align themselves on a little bit of essentially routine messaging around Harry. It shows William is willing to respect his father’s seniority and do what is asked of him.”
Harry and William recently attended the funeral of their uncle, but didn’t speak to each other. However, more positive mood music was provided by Harry’s publisher saying that the paperback edition of Spare, his mega-selling memoir, would not be updated with any new material.
A friend of the king’s said, “The king has made it very clear that he loves Harry and wants to be part of his and his family’s life. Publicly wishing him a happy 40th birthday is completely of a piece with that ambition.”
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