The palace's huge Harry and Charles plan could change history
Harry is coming.
In 2027, Birmingham will host the next Invictus Games and Buckingham Palace is reportedly very quietly nosing around the idea of using the event as a stepping stone to sort out the 21st century's biggest family feud, that of Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex and anyone who owns a crown or has the word 'The' in the name section of their passport.
For the very first time in yonks, the noises coming out of the Palace are vaguely, waftily conciliatory, based on a major report from Camilla Tominey in The Telegraph, who also broke the story that Harry was dating Suits star Meghan Markle in 2016. (Really want to feel the cold passage of time? Barack Obama was president when that exclusive came out.)
According to Tominey, behind Palace gates there have been 'exploratory … discussions about if or when father and son could ever be reunited' with a handy dandy opportunity presenting itself in two years time.
In July 2027 the Invictus Games will return to Britain for the first time since its 2014 launch, thus putting Harry back on British terra firma and within easy choppering (or training) distance of a King willing to wave something like an olive branch in the direction of his pouty son. For a father possibly looking to try and mend a fence here and there then, it's a natural opportunity.
The more cynical amongst you might be wondering why Charles might be interested in making things up with the duke and you would be right to. After all, in the last 15 months Harry has been in London on four separate occasions and His Majesty has not made time to see him once.
Instead, Charles' sudden openness to possibly make things up with Harry is reportedly motivated less out of, seemingly, tender paternal feeling and more out of cold-eyed pragmatism about the possible damage being done to King's reputation.
The Telegraph reports that the Palace did 'discrete polling' after Harry's BBC interview last month during which he said he would 'love reconciliation'. According to the paper, inside Crown Inc, 'there is an awareness that the impasse cannot continue forever, not least if it starts to reflect badly on the King.'
(Side note: Harry's 'loving' of a reconciliation is all well and good but not exactly a logical extension of him having, just since his father acceded to the throne, put out a six part TV series, a 400 page book and done hours of interviews rubbishing the family and institution over which the King presides.)
What the Games represent is a natural opening for Charles to turn a possible lemon into lemonade.
As head of the British armed services the King has no choice but to go. He can't not support the military and veteran communities with rousing gusto – however sitting back and letting the duke lap up the massive reputational boon that are the Games would have to be a tough thing to swallow given that Harry continues to turn up in front of cameras to say things like,
'I don't know how much longer my father has. He won't speak to me'.
So if some sort of meeting of the King and duke could be staged, it would mean that the Palace could sell it as Charles being the bigger man and embracing forgiveness. It would also reframe an event that redounds to Harry's credit and heart, the highly successful Games, into an opportunity to make His Majesty look particularly good.
The possible royal PR of a Birmingham rapprochement could be even greater still with The Telegraph raising the question of whether any tender family moments might also include Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Tominey writes that 'it is hoped' that 'a public reconciliation' would involve the young prince and princess, better known these days for starring in their mother's Instagram feed.
The King has not seen his American grandchildren since 2022, having only met Lili once in her young life. Picture it: Some sweet shot of him with, by then, an eight-year-old Archie and a six-year-old Lili, a morse that would do him no end of favours.
And thus we get to the really big question mark in of all of this – where would Meghan, The Duchess of Sussx fit into this misty-eyed family scene? She has proudly been to every one of the five Games that have taken place since she started dating 'Aitch', every time turning up to hug, wave and cheer her way into competitors and their families' hearts and selfie reels.
But, you know. Britain. Aside from the late Queen's funeral, the last time that she attended any sort of formal event in the UK, a service at St Paul's Cathedral for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, there were reportedly boos from the crowd.
Polling hardly suggests that Meghan would face a particularly enthusiastic welcome. YouGov research done in May recorded the duchess' lowest popularity to date. 65 per cent of Bris have a negative opinion of the 43-year-old as opposed to 20 per cent with a positive one.
Added to which, the duchess has shown zero interest in making nice with the UK, the royal family or anyone who thinks beer should be drunk room temperature, and according to your view, understandably so.
I wonder, how might she feel about her kids possibly being used to gin up some nice rosy publicity for the King?
Still, all of this is a good two years away and I doubt even your Higher Power of choice has any real idea of what might happen between now and then. And Harry might need all that time. It's been said that the UK and the US are 'two nations divided by one language' and just think of how much the duke has to teach his children about his homeland. About bangers and mash, jam roly-poly, Beefeaters, wellies and why it's best to never take a swig from Grandma Camilla's water bottle.
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