It doesn’t look like King Charles III will be reaching out to Prince Harry soon, at least according to royal expert Christopher Andersen.
“It really does look like Charles is taking the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ axiom to a whole other level, doesn’t it?” Andersen, who has authored multiple books about the royal family, told Us Weekly exclusively via email on Tuesday, May 6, amid the ongoing rift between Charles, 76, and Harry, 40.
“The King is only hewing to a long-standing royal practice of not dignifying something by commenting on it. The Palace does not want to give oxygen to Harry’s remarks,” Andersen continued. “King Charles has a lot on his plate as it is — there is no upside to his getting into a public quarrel with his son.”
Harry decided to go in the “opposite” direction, Andersen noted, as evidenced by his recent bombshell BBC News interview.
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Following a landmark loss in his battle for government-funded security in the U.K. on Friday, May 2, the Duke of Sussex claimed Charles “won’t speak” to him. (Harry and wife Meghan Markle were denied protection in the U.K. after stepping down from the royal family in 2020.)
“It is understandable that Harry would go public — after all, he is being stonewalled privately, and it must be terribly frustrating for him not to even be able to get through to his father on the phone,” Andersen speculated. “There’s a real Catch 22 here: As long as the Palace ignores Harry in the vain hope that he’ll go away, it puts him in the position of having to amp up the volume of his public comments.”
Despite revealing that there’s been no contact with his father, Harry stated on Friday that he “would love reconciliation” with the royal family.
“There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” he said before referring to Charles’ cancer battle. “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
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Andersen previously reacted to Harry’s comments about Charles’ health while speaking to Us earlier this week. (Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in February 2024.)
“If Harry really wants to reconcile with his family, he has an odd way of showing it,” Andersen said.
The royal expert further weighed in on Harry’s claims that his father was involved in his legal loss.
“He slams his father for interfering in the trial, then says the Palace rigged the outcome, then accuses the Royal Family of not caring about the safety of his wife and children, and winds up declaring that for now he can’t foresee any scenario in which he would take his family to the U.K.,” Andersen added. “Harry delivered the coup de grace when he said he wanted to bury the hatchet with his father because he doesn’t know how much time the King has left to live.”
