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One phone call. One leak. And just like that, King Charles’ already fragile trust in Prince Harry shattered completely.
Back in 2023, on Charles’ 75th birthday, Harry reportedly made an effort to reconnect. He dialed in via video call, even having his kids sing Happy Birthday to their grandfather. It could have been a small step toward mending fences, until details of the conversation found their way into the press.
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That leak sent shockwaves through Buckingham Palace. According to Daily Mail royal editor Rebecca English, “A deeply private call between the king and his grandchildren and it ends up in a newspaper the next day. Really?” The Sussexes were widely suspected of tipping off the media, which left the king furious. If he couldn’t trust Harry to keep a simple phone call private, what else might end up making headlines?
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For Charles, this was the final straw. He stopped sharing key family information with his youngest son. When he was diagnosed with cancer in early 2024, Harry found out just minutes before the world did. And when Kate Middleton made her own shocking health announcement, he received no advance notice at all. The walls had officially gone up.
Royal expert Grant Harrold, who once served as Charles’ personal butler, weighed in on the fractured relationship (via Express). “I think the trust with the royal family is a big issue and I think in the back of their minds they are always going to worry … I think it depends on what [Harry] does over the next couple of years if we can see him come back in. I’m sure his father would probably love to welcome him back with open arms, they’ve just got to be sure that what’s happened in the past few years is not going to happen again.”
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But even if Charles wanted a reconciliation, others in the family weren’t so forgiving. Prince William, who had stood by his father through thick and thin, saw Harry’s actions as an outright betrayal. One of the Prince of Wales’ close friends told Daily Beast, “He hates him for what he has done to the family in the books and interviews … It’s no secret William would prefer it if Harry never stepped foot in England again.”
And then there was Queen Camilla. The former Duchess of Cornwall had endured Harry’s public criticism in his memoir Spare but had largely kept quiet. That changed when Harry made a sudden trip to the U.K. after Charles’ cancer diagnosis.
Her patience ran out. A royal insider told RadarOnline, “Her Majesty was furious Harry flew in from his ritzy California home without getting Palace approval and came with an attitude.” The source added that Camilla saw it as nothing more than a “PR stunt,” using Charles’ illness to soften his public image. “She has taken it all on the chin, but using her husband’s cancer as a PR move was the last straw.”
With trust gone and bridges burned, Harry had more than just a fractured relationship with his father. He had alienated the people closest to the king – his brother, his stepmother, and much of the palace inner circle.
The question remained: Could anything ever repair the damage? Or was the phone call leak just the beginning of a permanent royal divide?
For more of the latest Hollywood updates, stay tuned to Koimoi!
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