In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry described the tension he felt when he met his brother, Prince William, and his father, King Charles, after Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021

Prince Harry shared the one-word reply he got from his father, King Charles, and his brother, Prince William, when he asked to see them for a “secret meeting” to “talk about the state of things” and “find a way out” of their rift.

The Duke of Sussex said that when he flew back to London to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, in April 2021, he thought that could be a good time to also meet his brother and father for a chat. This was the first time Harry travelled back to the UK since he and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down as senior royals – and just one month before the then Duke of Edinburgh died, the Sussexes had opened up about their struggles in The Firm during a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Harry wrote in his memoir, Spare, which was published in January 2023, that he felt anxious, while waiting for William and Charles to arrive at their meeting – and at some point, he thought they had changed their mind and would no longer meet him. However, he said that at some point he saw his father and brother with a “grim, almost menacing” look as they headed towards him.

Harry pictured alongside his brother at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral ( 
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Getty Images)

The Duke recalled that when he gave them “a weak smile”, they did not smile back, which made him feel “a hugely intense vulnerability” and made him think of his late mum, Princess Diana, with the hope she could give him strength during the meeting. Harry revealed that when he said hello to his brother “Willy” and his father, whom he affectionately called “Pa”, they replied with a single and “painfully tepid” word: “Harold.”

Harry wrote: “At last, I saw them. Shoulder to shoulder, striding towards me, they looked grim, almost menacing. More, they looked tightly aligned. My stomach dropped. Normally they’d be squabbling about one thing or another, but now they appeared to be in lockstep – in league. The thought occurred: Hang on, are we meeting for a walk…or a duel?

Harry with his brother and father at Balmoral ( 
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Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
‌”I rose from the wooden bench, made a tentative step towards them, gave a weak smile. They didn’t smile back. Now my heart really started thrashing in my chest. Deep breaths, I told myself. Apart from fear, I was feeling a kind of hyper-awareness, and a hugely intense vulnerability, which I’d experienced at other key moments of my life. Walking behind my mother’s coffin. Going into battle for the first time. Giving a speech in the middle of a panic attack.

‌”There was that same sense of embarking on a quest, and not knowing if I was up to it, while also fully knowing that there was no turning back. That Fate was in the saddle. OK, Mummy, I thought, picking up the pace, here goes. Wish me luck. We met in the middle of the path. Willy? Pa? Hello. Harold. Painfully tepid.”

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Following the release of Spare last year, Harry spoke to the Telegraph and made an unexpected claim that he had actually omitted a number of stories about his father and brother. He said: “It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.

“There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”

Harry opened up about his strained relationship with the Royal Family in his book ( 
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After King Charles was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, Harry visited him briefly and later opened up about their meeting in an interview with Good Morning America. He said he felt lucky to see his father and declared: “Look, I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.

When asked if the diagnosis could have a “reunifying effect” amid their feud, Harry said he is certain it will. “Yeah, I’m sure. Throughout all these families I see it on a day-to-day basis the strength of the family unit coming together. I think any illness, any sickness brings families together,” he told the host. However, Harry refused to discuss his father’s condition and said: “That stays between me and him.”