Who exactly are the ‘men in grey’? Insiders reveal just how influential they really are in jeopardising Harry’s return to the family fold…
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It was a reunion that Prince Harry had hoped would finally kickstart the paving of a path back home to the Royal Family after almost six years of being left out in the cold – or rather the heat of the Montecito sunshine.
But after his brief 54-minute afternoon tea with King Charles, 76, during a short trip back to the UK earlier this month, Harry, 41, has now found himself at the centre of yet another storm after he accused the ‘men in grey’ of attempting to ‘sabotage’ his dreams of reconciliation with his dad.
Whispers of what exactly happened at the royal tete-a-tete were widely reported, with inside sources revealing that Harry had gifted Charles with a picture of his family including wife Meghan Markle, and had been ‘surprised’ to feel ‘more like a visitor’ than a family member.
A spokesperson for Harry was quick to hit back at the ‘categorically false’ reports, releasing a damning statement that accused palace ‘sources’ of being ‘intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son’.
They confirmed that a gift exchange including ‘a framed photograph’ (which is believed to have been of Harry and Meghan’s children Archie, six and four-year-old Lilibet) had taken place but that it did not include an image of the Duke and Duchess.
And now our source reveals how this nugget of truth, suggesting an inside leak, has been the catalyst in sending Harry to ‘war’ with the infamous ‘men in grey’; as they reveal that Harry’s peace-making efforts with Charles have caused a huge divide inside Buckingham Palace as scepticism grows about his and Meghan’s ultimate motives.
The insider tells heat, ‘Charles has really put his neck on the line to give peace a chance, which is all well and good and nobody doubts he’s trying to put the past behind in order to focus on positivity and forgiveness.
‘But there are still a high percentage of courtiers who think His Majesty is making a colossal mistake, that Harry is a loose cannon and it’ll explode in the Palace’s face at some stage or other.’
The wheels for what has been named as the Sussexes ‘Operation Bring Harry Back from the Cold’ were first set in motion in July when photographs emerged of a meeting at a London private member’s club between senior members of staff for the Sussexes and Charles’ communications secretary.
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At the time, the so-called ‘peace summit’ quickly descended into questions as to who had alerted the paparazzi – making public the suggestion that Harry and Meghan may already have one foot back into the royal fold.
And now the source says Harry’s latest outburst through his spokesperson has only further sparked the fury of courtiers who feel they have been working hard – some for decades – for the good of The Crown.
The insider explains, ‘Charles is running into a lot of resistance, not just from Prince William and Queen Camilla but pretty much throughout the Firm, and they’re making their feelings plain whilst dreading what will come of this peace plan down the line.
‘Harry hasn’t helped his cause by trying to take on some of the Palace aides who he claims have been briefing the press against him and Meghan. His angry words have made them even more determined to put a spanner in his plans and talk sense into the King before it’s too late.’
The truth, royal sources revealed earlier this week, is that the courtiers had for some time been attempting ‘to improve what is a delicate but important private family relationship’, but that the royal aides have now been left ‘perplexed’ and ‘saddened’ by Harry’s ‘outburst’.
Especially, our source now adds, at a time when the palace are still reeling from the long-term effects of Harry and Meghan’s damning accusations against the monarchy, including allegations of racism and bullying, and claims that the palace had ignored Meghan’s desperate calls for help while she had felt suicidal. The palace has denied all of these claims.
Harry, too, added further claims of an assault on him by his older brother, and heir to the throne, William, 43, and detailed the most intimate and often scathing details of his life behind palace walls in his 2023 memoir, Spare.
The insider says, ‘People inside the palace are stunned at the audacity of Harry marching in and acting like he can dictate terms to them.
‘After everything he’s done – the book, the interviews, the Netflix stuff, the way he’s trashed his family over and over – they see him as the last person who should be calling the shots.
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‘He’s only just had one meeting with his dad and he’s already raising hell and accusing people inside the monarchy of trying to sabotage him. The courtiers see it as him trying to take charge, which is laughable to them.’
It’s always been clear that Harry and Meghan have never had a close relationship with the courtiers, even during their time at the palace.
Their former royal aide Jason Knauf filed an official complaint that Meghan had ‘bullied’ two PAs out of a job within her first few months of living with Harry back in 2017/2018. The couple have continued to see a high staff turnover, even after their move to Montecito, with ex-employees reportedly calling themselves the ‘Sussex Survivor’s Club’. A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said at the time said Meghan was ’saddened by this latest attack on her character’ and referred to it as a ‘calculated smear campaign’.
But the source warns that the courtiers, some of whom also worked for the late Queen Elizabeth II, are in a position of power in that the reigning monarch trusts them implicitly to protect The Firm.
They explain, ‘These are seasoned operators who’ve been protecting the monarchy for decades, they’re not about to take orders from someone they view as a spoiled brat who abandoned his duties the moment things got tough.
‘It’s no exaggeration to say that at least 80 percent of the household think Charles is making a huge mistake even entertaining this olive branch from Harry. The general feeling is that giving him even a crumb of access will backfire spectacularly. Every time he’s been granted a platform, it’s ended with chaos, and there’s no reason to think this time will be any different.’
And after we recently reported how Charles and William had met at Balmoral last weekend to ‘smooth over family tensions’ – namely William’s unrelenting ‘fury’ at his brother – the source reveals how royal aides are urging Charles not to be naïve to the long term repercussions of allowing Harry back into the family fold.
‘The aides are reminding Charles of the long game here,’ the insider says. ‘He may be King now, but William is the future, and he’s made it very clear he wants nothing to do with Harry. Going against his wishes like this is a huge gamble and it could risk doing real damage to the monarchy.’
They add, ‘Camilla is giving the same warning and saying he’s being blinded by fatherly guilt. As you can imagine, this decision to let Harry back in is causing a huge amount of tension, but so far Charles isn’t backing down.’
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