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The Prince and Princess of Wales carried on with their royal duties this week, presenting a united appearance at the premiere of Digger. William and Kate mingled with the movie’s star Tom Cruise, as well as David Beckham and his sons Romeo and Cruz, during the glamorous event.
Behind the scenes, however, the Royal Family was reportedly facing a far more difficult week following the dramatic allegations made by Earl Spencer in his newly released book.
While the revelations are said to have caused considerable unease within the family, heat insiders claim Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are attempting to use the situation as an opportunity to reconnect. According to the sources, the Sussexes are keen to arrange a meeting with Prince William and Kate, but the Waleses reportedly have little interest in such a reunion.
According to the source, Harry and Meghan now believe the moment has arrived for another face-to-face discussion with William and Kate. They reportedly feel that getting all four of them together could create an opportunity to address their differences and begin repairing their fractured relationship.
‘Harry and Meghan feel it’s time for a new summit with William and Kate – and that with all four of them in a room, they could start a very productive and healing conversation. Now that Earl Spencer’s book has drawn attention to the family’s apparent failings in very sensitive matters, Harry and Meghan feel vindicated and think that it surely must be time for the Waleses to take them more seriously.
‘They also believe that – now they’re back on British soil and showing the Firm they’re serious about doing good with their charity work – they’re entitled to have a foot back in the door. The truth is, Harry really wants to see his brother and make peace with him, while Meghan is eager for them to start being welcomed back in royal circles.
‘They feel that Earl Spencer speaking up also backs their experience in the Firm, and how it can be a very cold and unforgiving institution. Meghan in particular feels very vindicated by it all, and thinks now is the time they should strike when it comes to having a dialogue with her in-laws. She doesn’t want to bring up the bridesmaid dresses or anything petty from the past – she just wants Harry to be in a room with his brother.’
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Released on 22 September, Swan Song sees Earl Spencer revisit the life and death of his late sister, Princess Diana, who died in August 1997 at the age of just 36.
The memoir contains a number of striking revelations. Spencer writes about Diana’s belief that her then-husband had feelings for a member of staff, recalls the occasion when she pushed her stepmother Raine down a staircase, and claims that he declined an offer from the Queen to restore Diana’s HRH title after her death.
The 62-year-old Earl also recounts two telephone conversations he says he had with the then-Prince Charles shortly after Diana’s death. Describing the first call, Spencer writes that his former brother-in-law ‘sounded giddily elated – like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time’.
Reflecting on that conversation years later, Spencer added: ‘Looking back now, I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not,’ he wrote.
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Spencer’s account of a second telephone conversation is even more dramatic. While the pair were reportedly disagreeing over whether William and Harry should walk behind their mother’s hearse, the Earl alleges that the now-King ‘hissed’, ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’
Spencer described being momentarily speechless after hearing the alleged remark. ‘I was so stunned that it took me a few seconds to reply,’ the Earl continued. ‘“I can’t believe you just said that,” I said flatly, before hanging up.’
Buckingham Palace subsequently responded to the claims with a statement that appeared to question Spencer’s recollection of events. A spokesperson said: ‘His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss’.
Spencer later pushed back against the Palace’s response, claiming that he had ‘been gaslit by the King’.
He added: ‘It was astonishingly provocative and below the belt because it was essentially trying to say I’d lied without the King being able to deny what I’d said.’
Earl Spencer later reinforced his account during an interview with the BBC, firmly maintaining that his recollection of the conversation was accurate.
‘I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said,’ Charles Spencer insisted. ‘I was hyper-alert to what he was saying, and those are precisely the words he said. And I promise that to you now. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.
‘What else would have made me hang up on the King that day?’
The publication of Spencer’s memoir comes only weeks after his nephew Prince Harry and Meghan spent time with him at Althorp, the Spencer family’s ancestral estate. The Sussexes reportedly visited with their children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet, shortly before relocating to the UK.
According to the insider, the proximity between that family visit and the book’s release has not gone unnoticed by William and Kate, who are said to view the timing as ‘suspicious’.
According to the source, William and Kate remain firmly opposed to becoming drawn back into discussions with Harry and Meghan, believing that reopening communication would be unlikely to improve the situation.
‘William and Catherine have absolutely no desire to get involved with Harry and Meghan, and believe no good can come from engaging with them,’ the insider says. ‘What they’re most suspicious about is how much they really knew about what was inside Earl Spencer’s book. The Sussexes spent time with their uncle recently at his own home, and William doesn’t believe that the memoir wasn’t mentioned.
‘If they did know about it, it’s going to drive William and Harry even further apart. It’s caused the King so much frustration and pain, at a time when his health is a serious issue.’
King Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in 2024 and continues to undergo treatment.
William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were once widely referred to as the ‘Fab Four’, but their relationship has reportedly been strained for years. Tensions are said to stretch back as far as the Waleses’ first encounter with Meghan, now 45, which was later characterised as ‘jarring’.
Harry, 42, has previously offered his own account of several uncomfortable moments involving Meghan and Kate. In Spare, he recalled ‘an awkward moment backstage’ at the first Royal Foundation Forum in February 2018, when Meghan asked if she could use Kate’s lip gloss.
‘Kate grimaced,’ Harry wrote in his autobiography. ‘Something we should’ve been able to laugh about soon after. But it left a little mark.’
Relations reportedly became increasingly strained ahead of Harry and Meghan’s wedding later that year. Although early reports claimed Meghan had made Kate cry during a disagreement involving the flower-girl dresses, Meghan later gave a different version of events, alleging that it was Kate who had left her in tears.
Harry also described the deterioration of his own relationship with William. In his memoir, he recounted a confrontation that allegedly became physical after William criticised Meghan, describing her as ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’.
Another disagreement detailed in Spare involved Meghan’s comment that Kate had ‘baby brain’. Harry claimed Kate later said she was ‘owed an apology’ and told Meghan they were not ‘close enough for you to talk about my hormones’.
The two couples have rarely appeared together since their relationship deteriorated. Their last public appearance as a foursome came during the period surrounding the late Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
According to the insider, the latest controversy has only strengthened William and Kate’s determination to keep their distance from Harry and Meghan, with the source describing the situation as a final breaking point for the Prince and Princess of Wales.
‘The Waleses haven’t forgiven the Sussexes for any of their antics, so the idea they could be responsible for more agony just shows they cannot be trusted – and their presence can bring drama and controversy,’ the insider adds. ‘There’s a worry that if Harry or Meghan start speaking up about their refusal to communicate, it could cause another royal drama that will only bring the King more worries, which is the last thing they want.
‘Kate and Wills think Meghan and Harry’s many post-Megxit interviews are simply unforgivable- and from where they’re standing, it seems they haven’t changed. They can’t envisage a time they will ever forgive them for what they’ve done.’
