Charles accused of "not showing enough compassion" to Prince Harry

Prince Harry and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrive to attend the 'International Year of The Reef' 2018 meeting at Fishmongers Hall on February 14, 2018 in London, England.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 22 August 2023

A royal expert has said that King Charles and Prince William should have offered a public "act of compassion" towards Prince Harry after the publication of his shock memoir Spare.

For Tessa Dunlop, the senior royals — and Harry's closest relatives, should have strayed from their usual "never complain, never explain" policy on that occasion, offering a way for the Duke of Sussex to be welcomed back into the fold at least to a certain extent.

"I felt that [Charles, William and Kate] could have offered the hand of reconciliation and really forgiveness which is required on their part because he’s been a bit public and underhand by Harry to say the least. I would have liked to have seen that done more publicly for me personally," Tessa told the To Di For Daily podcast host Kinsey Schofield (via Express).

"In a country as entrenched in its own history as much as ours, it is very difficult to take on an institution… particularly if it’s one your own family belong to…

"I still feel conflicted. I feel that he did something quite brave, he did it in a slightly foolish way and I want Charles and William to recognise their larger, more important, better-funded positions and just extend that hand over the Atlantic like Jesus on water."

Many people are likely to agree with the royal expert, considering it feels quite sad for Prince Harry to be close to estranged from his father and older brother.

With that in mind, reports have been claiming that the King intends to meet with Harry in the coming weeks.

"King Charles is due to return to London from Balmoral in the middle of September, which ties in with the end of Harry’s Invictus Games trip to Düsseldorf," a source said recently.

"The King has a rescheduled official visit to France on September 20th so has a few days to spare in London to meet with his son. Staff are trying to fine-tune the details as we speak."

The alleged upcoming meeting has been dubbed "peace talks" for the father and son pair, so who knows what will come out of it!

Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.

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