bitchy | King Charles’s friends brief that they will not ‘get drawn into briefing wars’

This past week might have been a turning point for how King Charles handles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at least as much of a turning point as Charles evicting the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage. Even after the eviction last year, Charles still tried to play the game of “Charles wants nothing more than to reconcile with Harry.” That game is now over – Harry likely approached his father informally about the possibility of a meeting while Harry was in town. Charles dithered and made noise about how he was too busy, and Harry said “okay” and then released a statement to that effect.

Harry’s statement set off a week-long tantrum from Charles which included palace briefings to Daily Mail reporters and columnists, royal insiders throwing an unhinged tantrum to the Daily Beast, and the general feeling that Charles has massively lost the plot. The Windsors made a point of doing performative busywork while Harry was in town, most of which was revealed to be thrown together at the last minute specifically so they would look busy. In case you would like all of that underlined, please enjoy this chaotic piece from the Times, in which they’re trying to make the dual points that “of course Charles was snubbing Harry, Charles hopes Harry is terribly hurt by all of the snubs” AND “how dare Harry suggest that his father was snubbing him.” These royalists are not bright.

King Charles met David Beckham on Friday: Even in his gardens at Highgrove on Friday the King was still working as he continued his return to public duties. The Times understands that David Beckham, the former England football captain, met the King for a private meeting. No pictures were released and no press notice was issued. Beckham is understood to have visited Charles to learn more about his charity, the King’s Foundation.

Of course Charles was snubbing Harry! The report of the meeting could also make uncomfortable reading for the Duke of Sussex. During Prince Harry’s visit to the UK this week a spokesman for the duke said that the King’s diary could not accommodate a meeting with his younger son, who was attending an event less than two miles from Buckingham Palace. To later discover, however, that his father could find time to catch up with one of the world’s most famous footballers will surely add to his dismay.

Charles’s thrown-together, last-minute busywork: Although royal diaries are often planned months in advance there could have been another discrepancy in his father’s schedule that caught Harry’s eye. When the King made his first military-related appearance at an army barracks in Hampshire on Thursday, Charles described it as a “surprise”. However, a lieutenant colonel let slip that the visit had been planned a week in advance.

The palace is still mad about Harry’s statement: Nevertheless, some have taken umbrage at Harry’s ill-timed statement. A friend of the King said: “The Palace has been left bruised by the suggestion that it was a snub [to Harry] but remain determined not to get drawn into briefing wars.”

The courtiers are very hurt that Harry didn’t go through their web to meet the king: The friend added that reports that Harry had invited his father to the cathedral for a service to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, or suggestions that the duke had requested a meeting with his father at any other point during his UK visit “should be treated with a good deal of suspicion”. The allegation, inferred by some from the duke’s statement, is thought to be particularly hurtful as courtiers were unaware that Harry had made a specific request to meet his father.

[From The Times]

The brilliance of Harry’s spokesperson making the statement about not meeting the king is that Harry effectively disrupted the planned-out palace narrative, and we saw them react with shock in real time. They were hoping to play the “Charles SNUBS Harry for reasons” card all week, but with Harry releasing the information himself and being so gracious about it, the palace couldn’t admit that they fumbled the entire issue. You can see that they’re still trying to get under Harry’s skin by leaking this Beckham meeting too – the palace confirmed the meeting to the Times, the Telegraph and the Mail, but OF COURSE the palace isn’t engaged in briefing wars! Probably because it’s not a war. Harry released one statement on Tuesday, on the record, and the palace comms literally wouldn’t shut up about it all f–king week. That’s not a briefing war, that’s a completely one-sided tantrum by a 75-year-old man who wanted to control the narrative.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.