King Charles’s Birthday Wish Is For William and Harry to Reconcile
King Charles III wants a birthday gift money can’t buy—for his sons, Prince William, 42, and Prince Harry, 40, to reconcile. “Peace” is what the British monarch wants but reports suggest that’s one birthday gift he won’t get.
King Charles’s birthday wish: end ‘feuds,’ spend time with William and Harry
The king wants to move forward without “feuds” hanging over his head when he turns 76 in November 2024. A source close to the king told the U.K.’s Express that “peace” between the Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex is what he wants.
“King Charles wants nothing more than peace to be restored in his family,” they said. “He wants to draw a line under their past feuds and for Prince William and Prince Harry to get along. And what better timing than his birthday to bring them together.”
After going “through an awful lot since becoming king” and being “gallant in carrying out his duties while facing his own health woes” with a February 2024 cancer diagnosis announcement, the king wants to spend time with family. (He’s set to pause treatment while visiting Australia.)
“Now he wants to make memories with his wife, sons, and grandchildren,” the source said of the famously workaholic British royal. “This is what he will treasure the most, especially as his milestone birthday approaches.”
No signs of reconciliation between Harry and William
It looks like King Charles won’t get his birthday wish unless something really big happens between now and Nov. 14, 2024. The Daily Beast reported at the time of Harry’s birthday—he turned 40 on Sept. 15, 2024—that William doesn’t plan on reconciling soon, if at all.
A friend of his and Kate Middleton’s told the outlet the future king has “no interest” in talking to Harry again. “The honest truth is that William has no interest right now in reaching out to Harry and Meghan,” they said. “He regards what Harry said in his book (i.e. his memoir, Spare) as unforgivable.”
“And, understandably given Catherine’s cancer diagnosis, [William] just wants to focus on his wife and family first and his job second,” they added. “There isn’t space for a complicated reconciliation process with Harry. It’s not a priority.”
What about the happy birthday message to Harry from the Prince and Princess of Wales on social media? William only agreed so he’d “align” with the king’s own “routine” post for milestone birthdays.
King Charles asked William and Harry not to make his ‘final years a misery’ in 2021
The king begged his sons to stop bickering years earlier. In April 2021, following Prince Philip’s funeral, Harry met King Charles and William for a “secret meeting” near Windsor Castle. Soon Harry and William began “sniping” at each other.
“It got so heated that Pa [King Charles] raised his hands” and said, “‘Enough!’” Harry recalled. “He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces: ‘Please, boys—don’t make my final years a misery.’”
At the time, King Charles hadn’t yet taken the throne. He was 72 years old, seven months shy of his birthday, and still the Prince of Wales. It wouldn’t be until September 2022 with Queen Elizabeth II’s death that he became the head of the British monarchy.
