When it comes to PDAs within the Royal Family, protocol tends to suggest they keep any gushing, snogging, and indeed any sign of enthusiastic physical affection, behind palace walls. For example, let’s look back at the time when Kate Middleton accidentally grazed Prince William’s bottom at the 2023 BAFTAs and the footage went viral, undoubtedly leaving our future queen mortified.
However, King Charles, 77, has instead always made his affections clear by displaying his family photographs around his home. And for a man who tends to live across two palaces – Clarence House and Highgrove House – the sentimental monarch has a lot of family snaps.
So last week, when a royal photographer visiting Highgrove House posted a photograph from inside one of the sprawling estates’ rooms on social media; royal watchers were quick to note the absence of a certain family picture from a corner spot where it had taken pride of place as recently as 2024.
The missing picture was a framed picture of Harry and Meghan’s wedding day, which now appears to have been replaced by another sweet family memory of Charles cradling Prince Louis.
While of course it may have simply been placed elsewhere, we’re told how the seemingly dramatic removal of such a personal portrait of the Sussexes from one of Charles’ main royal residences has riled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who our source tells us are convinced that Queen Camilla is behind the apparent snub.
The insider says, ‘This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and Harry and Meghan are convinced Camilla is to blame. Harry says she’s constantly poisoning Charles against him and blocking every attempt at reconciliation behind the scenes.
‘Camilla has made herself Charles’ gatekeeper, and Harry it appears, that keeping Harry and Meghan away from Charles is one of her top priorities. She feels totally justified. Whenever anyone questions whether it’s time to forgive and forget for the sake of family peace, she just points to everything Harry and Meghan have said about the family and insists there can be no real trust after that.’
It’s now been eight months since Harry, 41, last met with his Charles at Clarence House following a 19-month estrangement, which Harry later revealed had been prompted by his father not wanting to see him during his legal battle over security in the UK.
Charles again opted not to see his son and Meghan, 44, during his trip to the US last month, but it was revealed by royal insiders at the time that the monarch is now hoping to spend time with his grandchildren – Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, four – in the UK in the near future.
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The snub came after months of reports that it had been William urging his father to be cautious about welcoming Harry back into the royal fold, but we’re told that it was unexpectedly Camilla who had been behind the decision not to see Harry during her and Charles’ US trip.
And now, with Harry preparing for what is expected to be a solo trip to the UK in July to attend an event marking the one-year countdown for the Invictus Games, the source warns that there is a real danger that Camilla, and not William, could make his return ‘miserable’ by further blocking his path to a reconciliation with Charles.
‘Everyone knows she’s the reason Charles backed out of his plan to meet with Harry when they were over in America, she made such a fuss that it just became untenable,’ the insider tells us.
‘And now she’s been very vocal about the fact that she thinks it’s a huge mistake to give Harry and Meghan even an inch, she’s hugely against the trip that’s planned for this summer. By all accounts Charles has started softening toward Harry, but Camilla certainly has not, and if she has her way, Harry’s trip to the U.K. is going to be as miserable as she can make it.’
While it’s now been three years since Harry released his explosive memoir, Spare, in 2023, he and Meghan has undoubtedly left a trail of devastation in their wake following their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and their 2022 Netflix docu-series, Harry & Meghan.
And while time has passed, former royal editor Duncan Larcombe revealed last week how the Royal Family are still struggling to rebuild any level of trust with Harry and Meghan.
He said, ‘Charles is in an impossible position right now. He and Prince William can’t reach out to Harry for fear of him then publicising it. That’s the big blockage. If they were to resume contact, they run the risk that Harry and Meghan could disclose more personal details and drop more bombshells about what’s happening. This is where the fear lies for the royal family.’
Royal expert Richard Palmer added, ‘There’s always a general worry that Harry or Meghan are going to say something that will embarrass the King and Queen.’
Now, the source says Camilla is adamant that allowing Harry and Meghan back into the fold would only invite ‘more chaos and embarrassment’.
The insider tells us, ‘Camilla has clearly made it her personal mission to erase them from royal life entirely. It’s no wonder Harry’s worried that he’ll never get past her long enough to properly sort things out with his father.
‘She says the only people to blame for this are Harry and Meghan, and says this is only the consequence of their actions. She says they’ve repeatedly proven they can’t keep private matters private, and she believes letting them back into the fold in any meaningful way would only invite more chaos and embarrassment.’
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Meanwhile, Harry had also made it clear that he holds his own resentments toward Camilla, having previously accused her of sacrificing him and his ‘family’ to rehabilitate her own image in the media following her affair with Charles.
He further described Camilla, 78, as ‘dangerous’ and even admitted that he and William had ‘begged’ Charles not to marry her ahead of their 2005 wedding.
Now the source adds, ‘Harry finds it all incredibly hypocritical, considering how much embarrassment and chaos Camilla’s affair with his father caused the royal family. But Camilla won’t even hear that, she says he’s just trying to deflect from his own actions, and she won’t fall for it.
‘Of course, as everyone knows, this battle between them has been raging for years, long before she even married Charles. Harry never made any attempt to hide his disdain for her, he even admitted to begging Charles not to marry her.
‘So, in fairness, she has plenty of reason to still hold a grudge against Harry after the way he’s tried to sabotage her over the years, it’s definitely been a two-way street.’
However, following Charles and Camilla’s coronation in 2023, the monarch has made it clear from the very beginning that he sees Camilla as his equal – leaving her in a position that, at least in an official capacity, wields a lot more power than Harry’s.
Now the source says Camilla is all too aware that when it comes to any reconciliation between Charles and Harry, she has the upper hand.
We’re told, ‘The problem for him now is that she’s got the upper hand and she’s taking great pleasure in making sure he knows it.
‘If he had shown her even the smallest bit of kindness over the years, she might be willing to find some forgiveness in her heart, but the way she sees it he’s been nothing but cruel. He always acted as though he was above her, and now she’s finally got her chance to make him pay, and she’s not going to let it slip by.’
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