Where Prince Harry’s Relationships With King Charles and Prince William Stand Before the Coronation

Royal reporter and co-author of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry biography Finding Freedom Omid Scobie made an appearance on ITV’s “This Morning” today, where in addition to speaking about Meghan Markle’s decision not to attend King Charles’ coronation, he also touched on the state of affairs between Harry, his father King Charles, and his brother Prince William. Harry will be at the coronation. “There was never any question on whether he would want to come or not,” Scobie said. “It was a question at one point of whether he would be invited, I think.”

“From what I understand, the Sussexes had to wait for some time to really get that confirmation that they were 100 percent welcome at this event,” he continued. “Of course, this all follows the release of Spare, but for Harry, there was certainly no question about it. Ultimately, he’s fifth in line to the throne, he’s a counselor of state, there’s a serious constitutional reason for him to be there. And he still takes that seriously even though he’s not a working member of the royal family. But also, as we’ve heard time and time again from him in his interviews, despite the pain that he’s experienced from his own family, he still cares for them and so much can happen over time. I don’t think he’d ever want to look back and regret not being here for that moment.”

He then touched on Harry’s dynamic with his brother and father, per his intel. Scobie also said Harry has no say on his seating at the coronation.

“Obviously, this is the first time he sees his family face-to-face since the release of Spare [Harry’s memoir], but I don’t think people know that there has been somewhat regular […] conversation between him and his father since the release of that book,” Scobie said. “Now, have they discussed the details and the points that he wanted to go into? From what I hear, no. But he has had contact with his dad and, of course, there have been some negative moments with the loss of Frogmore Cottage. They lose the keys to that any week now at this point, and of course he would’ve spoken to his father about that, but also discussed his attendance at the coronation with his dad and made it clear that he wanted to be part of it, and I think that was really well received as well. So it’s interesting to now compare that to where William and Harry are, which is still in the exact same place that we last saw them. There has been minimal contact since the Queen’s funeral.”

Senior News and Strategy Editor

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.