It may have just been confirmed that Prince Harry will be attending King Charles’ coronation on May 6, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll get to sit down and have a proper talk with his father.
ET Canada chatted to royal expert Alexander Larman — author of The Windsors at War: The King, His Brother, and a Family Divided — just before Buckingham Palace released a statement to us revealing Harry would be attending the event without Meghan Markle and their kids Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
READ MORE: Prince Harry To Attend King Charles’ Coronation Without Meghan Markle, Buckingham Palace Confirms
Before it was known for sure whether the Duke of Sussex would be at the coronation, Larman discussed whether he thought he might come to the U.K. a little early or stay afterwards to catch up with his father.
Larman doesn’t think that’ll happen, telling us: “If I was King Charles and I had just had my coronation, I think the last thing I’d want to do would be to hang around and talk to my son. Because ultimately, what is commonly known around Buckingham Palace and around St. James’s Palace is that Harry and Meghan leak to the media like nobody’s business,” which goes against Harry’s allegations about the Palace being the ones to constantly leak stories.
Larman continued, “I mean, the number of times you see a friend of the Sussexes being quoted somewhere is really quite extraordinary. So, in the very unlikely event that King Charles sits down with Harry and says, ‘Oh, I’ve been a terrible father, forgive me…’ But, actually the chances of all that making it into the media is pretty much 100 percent.”
The author added that you’ve got to think about “Charles’ actual feelings as a father, actual feelings, of I’m sure, betrayal and hurt at his son’s actions” and pit them “against a wider view of the monarchy and now his role as the monarch.”
READ MORE: Prince Harry Says Palace Withheld Information About Phone Hacking From Him
Larman insisted, “So, I would be very, very surprised indeed if there was to be any kind of reconciliation between the two of them at this stage.
“Not to rule it out in the future… life is a strange thing and events happen faster than we can all imagine, but I don’t see that happening on this occasion.”
It’s thought Harry — who visited the U.K. last month, but was reportedly told his father Charles was “too busy” to see him — will not be making an appearance on the royal balcony, after he and Meghan stepped back as senior members of the family back in March 2020.
Things have been up and down with Harry and the royals over the past few years, with him making multiple accusations against his family in his tell-all memoir Spare, that was released earlier this year.
Harry and Meghan also spoke out about their decision to leave the royals in their Netflix documentary, as well as in their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview that aired in March 2021.