Meeting

This week, the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Southport for only the second time following the deadly stabbing attack on a children’s dance class in July 2024. That was William and Kate’s only public event this week – right after the Southport visit, William flew to Scotland to spend a few days with his father at Balmoral. The Telegraph said that Kate stayed behind in Windsor with the kids and the beloved school run. What’s interesting about William’s trip to Balmoral is apparently this is the second or third time he and his father have done this in the early autumn – sources now claim that it’s an annual thing for William and Charles to have private time at the tailend of Charles’s Scottish summer holiday. I’m not sure I believe that, but it’s fascinating to see that story pushed to the Sun, Telegraph and Daily Mail. Someone else not buying any of this? Tom Sykes, writing in his Royalist Substack. Some highlights:

The palace narrative: Palace spinners are in overdrive. Smarting at suggestions by The Royalist that King Charles and Prince William are at loggerheads—first reported here but now gaining traction in the broader media—the court has moved to project an image of father–son harmony, briefing the Telegraph that the two men are enjoying a “mini-break” in Scotland, set aside for “informal” chats as sovereign and heir.

The Royalist isn’t buying it: I can’t be alone in thinking that such a transparent attempt to show unity is arguably worse than none at all, as it only serves to highlight the fractures it seeks to conceal. I mean, it is hardly a secret, thanks to their actions, that far from being aligned, Charles and William are bitterly divided on the two poorly handled issues that have come to define this reign: Andrew and Harry.

William & Charles can’t agree on the Yorks: Allies justify Charles’ hopeless vacillation on the grounds of Christian teaching, filial loyalty to the late Queen’s indulgence, and even the bizarre notion that Andrew “can’t be stopped going to church.” William, by contrast, sees only weakness and naïveté on the part of his father. His line is hard and clear: Andrew should be cut off entirely, never again should he be in the monarch’s presence.

William thinks Charles is making the same mistake with Harry! He fears the same mistake is now being made with Harry. Two weeks ago, Charles invited Harry to tea and chocolate cake. Harry’s team immediately began briefing that he intended to spend more time in the U.K. William’s nightmare is that his father’s innocent, private gestures will morph into public endorsements—culminating, perhaps, in Charles appearing alongside Harry at the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.

Whether Charles & William are actually spending time together: The questions I’ll be looking to my sources to answer in the days ahead about this Balmoral retreat are simple: did William stay with his father at Birkhall, or apart at the castle, eight miles away? How much real time did they spend together? And was anything said, or resolved, about Harry? (We must assume William and the other adults will now prevail on the Andrew issue). What emerges about Invictus will be crucial. If Charles’ team begins suggesting he will attend while William pointedly says he will stay away, the break will become undeniable. William does not seek to stop his father reconciling with Harry privately, but he is determined to block any public rapprochement that might be the thin end of the wedge. Many courtiers agree; as one sniffed to the Mail, Harry’s team are “mistaking tea and cake for the Treaty of Versailles.”

William is still panicked about Harry: William’s red line is clear: no royal should grant Harry the legitimacy of a meeting or photograph after Spare and Netflix. Charles, by contrast, is tempted by affection for his “darling boy” and fear of appearing heartless in the shadow of his illness. William is guided not just by personal grievance but by public opinion, which is firmly against a reunion. He was right about Andrew, his friends say, and he is right about Harry. I actually think he is right as well. You can’t let people say things like that about you or your wife. William’s friends are blunt. He sees the danger in a way his father does not. Charles, ever the conciliator, believes he is embodying forgiveness. In fact, he is gambling the monarchy’s reputation on a distinction—the private family versus the public institution—that the public, by and large, refuses to make.

The background: Harry was Charles’s favorite. William thinks Charles’ monarchy is pompous and out of touch—too much ermine, too many uniforms. Charles believes his son shirks duty by putting family ahead of the job. When William hesitated to attend the Pope’s funeral because it clashed with an Aston Villa match, Charles was aghast. When William declined to mark VJ Day, courtiers were dismayed. Charles sees tradition; William sees absurd Edwardian relics. All this unfolds against the backdrop of Charles’ illness. Since he disclosed his cancer, insiders have quietly accepted that William’s reign has already begun in all but name. That makes every fracture more dangerous. William’s authority grows daily, while Charles’ ebbs away. Aligning against the heir would be folly.

[From The Royalist Substack]

Someone in the comments of an earlier post suggested that William’s trip to Scotland was less about crisis management and more about William getting in one last hunting trip. After all, Charles has apparently ceded control of organizing royal shooting parties to Peg. It would be very funny if that’s all this was, and William and Charles barely spoke. It’s always seemed to me like Charles and William are actually fine with not speaking to each other directly, and merely communicating through courtiers and the media. If you look at it that way, the past week’s stories make more sense. William didn’t rush up to Balmoral to have urgent one-on-one meetings with his father. Why would he, when he can just order his courtiers to brief the Mail and other outlets, all to try to control and contain the narrative. I 100% believe the “back-and-forth” between unnamed sources about Harry’s desire to “come back” was entirely Kensington Palace trying to make it look like Harry was briefing about the meeting with his dad. Also: I guarantee that the Invictus Games are too far off for all of this hand-wringing.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.