Prince Harry is facing intensifying estrangement from the royal family amid mounting distrust over his media interviews, memoir revelations, and legal disputes over personal security in the United Kingdom. According to sources familiar with the royal household, both King Charles III and Prince William have increasingly distanced themselves from the Duke of Sussex, citing a lack of trust and repeated breaches of private family matters.
"I genuinely think nobody trusts him and that's the bottom line," a source told Page Six. "The royal family has major trust issues with him and that's what's at the heart of everything. They don't trust him and Meghan and that's why they can't have a relationship ... maybe there's room to forgive, but they won't forget. Forgiveness and trust are two different things."
The breach widened in early May after Harry, 40, gave a BBC interview in which he said, "Life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has. He won't speak to me because of this security stuff." The remarks, which touched on the King's health and their fractured communication, were met with silence from Buckingham Palace. According to royal biographer Christopher Andersen, "The Palace does not want to give oxygen to Harry's remarks."
The interview followed Harry's loss in a final appeal to reinstate publicly funded protection while visiting the U.K. He had argued that his U.S.-based security team lacked access to critical intelligence required to protect his wife Meghan Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. "I can't see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point," Harry said.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said Harry's public airing of grievances continues to alienate him from his family. "Harry is quite like this mother [the late Princess Diana]," Vickers told Page Six, recalling a letter from Prince Philip to Princess Diana that said, "Every time Charles talks to you, it's in the Daily Mail the next day." Vickers added, "The same thing is happening now. Charles is, of course, right not to trust him."
Tensions reportedly escalated further when Meghan used her "HRH" title in a card sent with a gift to entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima, which was displayed during a podcast episode. The move drew internal backlash, particularly from Prince William. A source told The Daily Beast, "Charles might be happy to put up with this, but William won't. He loathes and despises Harry and Meghan with every bone in his body."
Harry and Meghan, who stepped down as senior royals in 2020, had agreed with Queen Elizabeth II to cease use of the "HRH" titles for commercial purposes, though they were never formally stripped of the titles. Meghan's team has said the gift was personal and thus did not violate that agreement.
Vickers criticized Harry for discussing King Charles's health during a week when the monarch was publicly supporting cancer survivors. "It was disgraceful to talk about Charles's health. If he's not talking to him, how does he know anything about it?" he said. "Harry should be begging his father for forgiveness ... and it should be done quietly, not on TV. But he won't. Because he's so stupid, he's basically blown it."
Harry last saw his father in February following the King's cancer diagnosis but has since been unable to schedule additional meetings, despite reaching out ahead of his visit to the U.K. for the Invictus Games anniversary in April. "Harry messaged Charles and he never heard back," the source said. "He wanted to talk to his dad about security stuff then, but his dad wouldn't speak to him."
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
