Prince Charles invited the Sussexes to stay with him on their next visit to the UK

Last December, Prince Charles tried to take some of the heat off of himself by throwing Prince Harry under the royal bus. The subject: Charles’s ongoing cash-for-access and cash-for-honours scandals. Charles clearly leaked a story about how Harry had also fundraised with one of the shadier figures. Harry, in turn, released a statement detailing his exact, above-board dealings with the questionable figure, and Harry pointed out that he warned his family that this dude was shady. Charles could not shut up about that for WEEKS. He kept whining about Harry’s statement to anyone who would listen (the Telegraph, the Times, the Daily Mail). We were gifted with another round of stories about how Harry and Charles’s relationship is quite bad. Since then, Charles did name-check Harry in his Newsweek cover, and there was some belief that Charles was making some public moves to bury the hatchet. Now this:

After news broke over the weekend that the Duke of Sussex is pushing back against the Home Office’s decision to prevent him from paying for police protection when in the UK, it’s been reported that Prince Charles is keen for his son to visit his birth country with his family.

According to the Mirror, the heir apparent reached out to Prince Harry in the run up to Christmas, inviting him, the Duchess of Sussex and their children to stay with him on their next visit to the UK. The offer has been interpreted as a gesture of goodwill from father to son, signalling a deescalation of the tensions that reportedly emerged following Prince Harry and Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview in March last year.

Charles last saw the duke and duchess’s son, Archie, when he was just six months old, and has never met the couple’s baby daughter, seven-month-old Lilibet. A ‘royal source’ told the news outlet: ‘The Prince of Wales has been saddened that he hasn’t had the opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren, which he really does miss. He is a fantastic grandfather and loves playing the role immensely and it’s certainly fair to say he feels there is something missing from his life without the ability to get to know Harry’s children. This is something he is hoping to remedy which is why he made the gesture for Harry, Meghan and the children to stay with him if they wanted to, whenever they may come home for a period of time. In the meantime there has been a series of good natured and enjoyable calls between them all which is something the prince very much looks forward to.’

Another source described as ‘close to Charles’ said that he ‘has spoken to his son frequently in recent months’, adding: ‘He loves him very much, as he does both his children, and he looks forward to them being able to spend time together in the near future.’

[From Tatler]

It’s more like Charles wants credit for public magnanimity while being privately unwelcoming and treacherous. What in the world would Charles do with his “wayward” son, daughter-in-law and two young children visiting him? Charles would hate that. He’s not a baby person. IF the Sussexes visit the UK this spring, I have to think that they would either stay at a hotel, or maybe Frogmore with Beatrice and Jack? Who knows. That being said, I really hope they don’t even come. I hope they understand that they’ll just be used for all of these dumb royal storylines and they just need to keep calm in Montecito.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.