King Charles III has reportedly invited his younger son, Prince Harry, to his upcoming 75th birthday celebration — but the royal ex-pat won’t make the trip to the United Kingdom as their relationship reportedly remains strained, sources claim.
Insiders with knowledge of the situation told the Sunday Times that the Duke of Sussex will skip the king’s party at Clarence House in London on November 14 after he also reportedly declined Charles’ offer in September to join him on the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death.
Prince Harry has since disputed the claim he was invited to his father’s birthday and called out the Sunday Times for misreporting the story, a spokesperson for the royal told The Messenger.
The alleged royal snub comes after a report that Harry and his father still “don’t speak much,” the Daily Mail noted. The strain in the relationship reportedly comes from the Prince’s tell-all memoir “Spare” and Charles’ “disappointment” at Harry’s description of the Queen Camilla in the book as a “villain” and “dangerous.”
“I have complex feelings about gaining a step-parent who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar,” the royal wrote in the book.
The royal’s relationship with the entire family is reportedly struggling following the revelations in the documentary “Harry and Meghan” and his book in which he takes aim at his brother William, sister-in-law Kate Middleton and father.
“Communications between the King and Prince Harry remain pretty poor,” a source told The Telegraph. “They don’t speak much, if at all.”
Author Omid Scobee, who wrote “Finding Freedom” — a positive book about the royal couple stepping down from their senior roles — attacked the royal family in the promotional material for his new book “Endgame: Inside The Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight For Survival” due out Nov. 28.
The book is described as “a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy – an unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to dangerous lengths to preserve her image and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family.”
One source told the Daily Mail, “I’ve been told this is bad, very bad. It is unlikely that Royal aides will comment, but if there are charges of racism, they will, of course, be robustly rebutted.”
Relations between the Sussexes and the royal family have not been the best following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s initial decision to step down from their senior roles in January 2020. They eventually relocated to southern California, where they are raising their two kids, son Prince Archie and daughter Princess Lilibet.
Update: The original story has been updated to reflect a statement from Prince Harry’s spokesperson denying the Sunday Times report.
Related: Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Denied Ride To U.S. On Air Force One After Queen’s Funeral: Report