Harry who?
King Charles’ has been criticized for not acknowledging his son Prince Harry, his wife Meghan Markle, or their two children in a Christmas address, which focused on how the holiday was “a chance for family and friends to come together.”
The closest Charles came to acknowledging his family in California was when he spoke about the need to protect and safeguard the environment “for the sake of our children’s children,” however, no direct reference was made to Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
By contrast, multiple images were shown of his son, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton, and their three children, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince Louis.
The refusal to acknowledge Harry’s family went almost entirely unremarked in largely fawning accounts of the annual televised speech in the British media but was criticized on social media.
The king’s failure to acknowledge Harry was made less obvious by the decision not to film the speech from his desk, thereby avoiding critics analyzing photographs and portraits in the shot for clues about who was in or out of royal favor.
The Daily Beast has been told that Charles would like to reconcile with Harry but is being blocked from bringing him back into the family by William, who is implacably opposed to any such move.
The elder son believes Harry’s betrayal of the family in his books and interviews, in which he accused a member of the family, later revealed to be Kate, of racism, has put him beyond the pale. William’s consent is needed because Charles, who is sick with cancer, feels he cannot bequeath his heir a settlement with Harry that William cannot live with.
