King Charles Will Reportedly Refuse Prince Harry’s Demand of a Sit-Down Meeting Before the Coronation

Marie Claire reported recently that the Palace is giving Prince Harry so-called “incentives” to attend King Charles’ Coronation in under three months’ time—think high-profile seating at the ceremony and a promise that Harry and wife Meghan Markle will get to keep their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles. But, according to The Daily Express, Charles has identified one demand of Harry’s that he apparently will not meet: A face-to-face meeting with his younger son ahead of the May 6 event.

According to royal correspondent Tom Skyes writing in The Daily Beast, a friend of the King’s told Skyes that “Charles adores Harry and wants him to be there. But he has a Coronation to organize. He simply won’t have the time to organize a special meeting with Harry.”

The Daily Mail reports that Harry and Meghan are still undecided as to whether or not they will attend, and before leaving the U.S. for the event, Harry wants a meeting with not only his father but also his older brother, Prince William. Harry said as much in an interview last month with ITV’s Tom Bradby while promoting his memoir, Spare, telling the journalist he hoped his family would be “willing to sit down” and talk about the issues that have plagued them for years.

According to The Daily Express, Charles’ inability—whether it truly is because of time constraints or just outright unwillingness—to have Harry’s desired sit-down conversation to talk through the familial problems Harry raised in his book is a “burn” to his younger son, says royal commentator Daniela Elser.

“Charles has reportedly refused to blink in the trans-Atlantic showdown he is currently locked into with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and won’t be acceding to his bolter of a son’s number one demand,” she says. “The simple reason? Charles is too busy.”

Unfortunately, this is nothing new in the father-son relationship between Charles and Harry. In Spare, Harry writes “He’d always given an air of being not quite ready for parenthood—the responsibilities, the patience, the time. Even he, though a proud man, would’ve admitted as much.”

Charles’ inability to have an in-person sit-down with Harry and Meghan might be the nail in the coffin for the Sussexes attending the Coronation. The couple have until early April to submit their RSVP for the event, about six weeks from today.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.