COMMENTARY: If you live in the world of royalty, everything is planned — all the details of where, when, and who you will be meeting. Even downtime with family and friends has to be planned, and this is something Prince Harry knows all too well.
Meghan, meanwhile, in her very little time associated with the world’s most famous royals, could not fathom that this was the case — the fact she couldn’t pick up a cell and call the King or the Queen. After all, they were family, right?
However, that closeness and willingness to connect is not extended to her own once-close father, so you get the picture.
But what the Duke of Sussex wants from his father is attention, and lots of it. Despite approaching middle age, Harry is a child at heart, and this really is the main problem with Harry and the King moving forward.
PRINCE HARRY SNUBBED AT KING CHARLES' CORONATION AS NEW DETAILS ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONY ARE REVEALED
You see, Harry made a very public declaration on TV across the world that he hoped any conversation he had with his father would remain private. But this is irony you could not make up, as Harry said it while sitting in a TV studio and telling the world he wants his words to remain private.
Now agreeing to come back for the King’s coronation, Harry also demanded a public apology to both him and Meghan. Quite for what remains to be seen, or does it?
You see, Harry is, I am told, refusing to engage with the family unless they have read his book "Spare" or indeed watched the trash TV fest that is the Netflix series. Harry believes that everything that needs to be discussed is all there on the screen, in print and spelled out directly.
I am told Harry believes that his "issues" need to be addressed — not just with the King but with the whole family, and this he honestly believes is the way forward to any level of patching up. He’d like it even better if they could all sit around with Meghan, even via Zoom, as Harry believes that wrong doings need to be sorted out.
Now the problem for Harry is that the King has not read "Spare" or indeed watched the Netflix shows — not because he has no interest in his youngest, but simply because he has not had the time. This is something I am told Harry finds increasingly frustrating. The other side is that William and Catherine also have no desire to be attached to this kind of thing, yet Harry, I am told, thinks this is the only way.
Which leaves this one major problem: Unless the King accepts this polite request from his youngest son, then no dice. And even more so regarding Meghan, who feels that above all she is entitled to some kind of worldwide apology for her minuscule time in the royal family.
So, unless the King gets streaming and flicks through the tedious book called "Spare," it would appear that Harry, Meghan and the newly created Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet could be waiting for some time before sitting around across the royal dinner table.
Meanwhile, maybe Meghan could write on some more bananas and get through to the King that way.