While there have been tensions between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the rest of the royal family for years, they've hit a fever pitch recently with the release of Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival by Omid Scobie. In addition to the various claims that made it into the published version of the book, an unapproved Dutch version that was pulled from the shelves reportedly named King Charles III and Kate Middleton as the family members who raised questions about what Harry and Meghan's first child's skin color would be. In the wake of this and conflicting reports about whether or not Harry was invited to his father's birthday celebration, one insider is saying that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now have a "new strategy" for dealing with the royal family, and it may not be one that fans expected.
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"Harry and Meghan’s new strategy is reconciliation," an unnamed source told Page Six recently. The source also said that Harry is motivated to mend relationships within his family because he'll be turning 40 in 2024 and does not want to waste precious time. After the couple stepped down from being active members of the royal family in 2020, they spoke out about their negative experiences, including racism directed toward Markle, in a documentary series, a highly publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey, and Harry's memoir, Spare.
Though King Charles was implicated in the skin color controversy (Scobie claims he never wrote a version of his book that included the names of those family members), Endgame asserts that he and Markle had a "respectful" correspondence in the aftermath of the comments, in which Markle explained the concept of unconscious bias and King Charles claimed that there was no "ill will" behind the question.
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The king marked his 75th birthday on Nov. 14 of this year. Harry and his family were not in attendance at a celebratory dinner at Clarence House. And while some reports claimed that Harry declined the invitation, his representative said that he was never invited in the first place. Though they were not there in person, Harry and Markle called King Charles on his birthday from their home in California to wish him well, and shared a video of his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, singing "Happy Birthday" to him.
The Telegraph characterized the "warm conversation" between Harry and Charles in particular as a "turning point" in their relationship. It was reportedly the first time they'd spoken since Charles' coronation in May. However, according to Page Six, matters have not improved between Harry and his estranged brother Prince William—the outlet says they haven't talked in over a year.
Page Six also reports that a source close to the Sussexes confirmed last month that Harry does want matters to improve between himself and King Charles. "Of course Harry wants to have a better relationship with Charles," they said. "He is his father after all."
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