Royal family
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March 11, 2023 | 11:00
King Charles’ upcoming coronation could be an opportunity for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to employ some palace diplomacy, according to a royal expert.
Robert Hardman, author of ‘Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II’, suggests former royals should be ‘respectful’.
“It’s not our show, it’s his show, we’re here because it’s kind of respect for a beautiful thing to do,” he told Page Six. “Private family issues aside…that’s for another day.”
The Duke of Sussex, 38, confirmed last week that the couple had received an invitation to attend his father’s coronation in May, but did not confirm whether they would attend.
The potential olive branch follows Prince Harry’s explosive memoir ‘Spare’, in which he accuses his father of calling him a ‘reserve’ when he was born, failing to hug him after announcing the death of Princess Diana and constantly joking that he was not Harry’s biological father.
More recently, it was revealed that Charles, 73, evicted his son and daughter-in-law from their UK residence, Frogmore Cottage, just a day after ‘Spare’ fell on the shelves.
But Hardman notes that the coronation is “a family event as well as a state event and you expect the whole family to be at a family event.”
“Remember, we kind of went through this last year with the Queen’s Jubilee (Platinum),” he says, adding that the founders of Archewell were “pretty low key.”
“They didn’t try to overshadow the main event, they didn’t give any interviews, they didn’t have a Netflix crew following them down the aisle (at St. Paul’s Cathedral). I think if they are reasonable, that’s how they will play this time.
Hardman is less optimistic about an eventual reconciliation between Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William.
In his memoir, Harry spelled out a long list of grievances against his older brother.
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The renegade royal claimed William pushed him to the ground during a physical altercation, was less than welcoming to his wife Markle and encouraged him to wear that infamous Nazi costume for a fancy dress party.
The Invictus Games founder has openly stated that he wants an apology, but doesn’t expect one.
Hardman tells us that an apology should be a “gift from each side.”
“I mean, there’s always in one of those things and every family, you know, both sides kind of have to swallow a little bit of pride,” he says. “I’m not sure we’re at that stage yet. But, you know, if Harry keeps saying, I won’t do anything until I get an apology, well, I think that could be a long way.
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