Royal family ‘saddened’ by Prince Harry’s claim that courtiers are ‘sabotaging’ his relationship with King Charles: report

The road to reconciliation between Prince Harry and his father, King Charles III, hit another major snag.

The palace is reportedly “saddened and perplexed” over Harry’s statement accusing sources within the institution of “sabotaging” his relationship with his father, according to the Sunday Times.

“The reality is that senior aides have been working behind the scenes to improve what is a delicate but important private family relationship,” a royal source told the outlet, adding that friends of Charles are also disappointed at Harry’s claims.

Reps for both the palace and Harry didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.

Harry’s scathing statement was in response to a Sun report that Harry’s meeting with his father on Sept. 10 in the UK after more than a year was “distinctly formal.”

The 54-minute visit left the Duke of Sussex feeling more like an “official visitor” to the UK, rather than a close family member, according to the report.

But Harry’s spokesperson told Page Six, “Recent reporting of The Duke’s view of the tone of the meeting is categorically false.”

“The quotes attributed to him are pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son,” the statement continued. “Presumably, those same sources have also chosen to disclose that gifts were exchanged.”

The representative confirmed that Harry presented a photo to his dad, as Page Six had exclusively reported. Sources told us at the time that the royal went to the meeting armed with photos and videos of his and wife Meghan Markle’s children: Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.

Harry’s spokesperson noted of the gesture, “While we would have preferred such details to remain private, for the sake of clarity, we can confirm that a framed photograph was handed over, however, the image did not contain the Duke and Duchess.”

Despite Harry’s four-day trip the the UK this month, he will never be allowed to be a royal part-time after he and Markle decided to step down as senior members of the royal family in 2020, the Daily Mail previously reported.

“The King is a forgiving man but has been absolutely clear in upholding his late mother’s decision that there cannot be ‘half-in, half-out’ members of the working royal family,” a royal source told the outlet.

“Whoever is behind [the Sussexes] seems to have mistaken a brief tea and a slice of cake for the Treaty of Versailles,” an insider also said.

Harry’s spokesperson told Page Six in response, “The Duke has made it clear that the focus, as it relates to his family, is his father — beyond that, and on any other issues as it relating to the Royal family, we won’t be commenting.”