The military uniform debacle, the forthcoming book, skipping Christmas—all play into delaying reconciliation.
Grief is terrible but often a way to unite a family, and royal followers around the world hoped—despite it being through the most tragic of circumstances—that Her late Majesty’s death in September would bring the royal family closer together than ever, specifically mending fences between Prince Harry and his father, King Charles, and brother, Prince William. But unfortunately, tensions seem to somehow be higher than ever.
In regards to Harry and Charles’ relationship, the new king “caused a lot of damage” by not allowing Harry to wear his military uniform to the Queen’s funeral,“I think that [reconciliation] might have been the intention, but the king’s decision to initially not permit Harry to wear his uniform and during this funeral [and the] fact that, at times, it seemed as if Harry and Meghan were being shoved in the background and even shunned—that did a lot of damage, I think,” says royal author...
When Harry and Meghan stepped back as working members of the royal family in January 2020, Harry lost his royal patronages and his honorary military titles. Because of this—and despite having served 10 years in the British Army—Harry is no longer permitted to be in uniform for royal events ranging from Trooping the Colour to the Queen’s funeral.
Andersen says Charles remains hopeful that Harry will one day be back on good terms with the royal family, adding “Charles would like everybody to be there and doing their job, and it’s in his interest to get Harry back into the fold. I’m not so sure William is that interested. I think he’s got much more of a grudge against Harry at this time.
Perhaps not surprisingly, in light of continually strained relations, Harry and Meghan have opted to skip out on the royal family Christmas festivities at Sandringham this year,