Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s relationship with King Charles III is less strained than the public may realize, royal expert Omid Scobie tells ET.
“There is more warmth between Harry and Meghan and Charles than other family members,” Scobie says, “and that has grown since they’ve left the country.”
Scobie’s new book, Endgame, offers a “penetrating investigation” into the current and future state of Britain’s monarchy, including new information on Prince Harry’s strained relationship with his family.
“It’s taken a long time to get there,” Scobie says. In the book, he writes about the many affronts between Harry and his family, most notably with his brother, Prince William.
Harry and Meghan announced their departure from their roles as working senior royals in 2020, first moving to Canada and then to California. Since then, the couple has continued to ruffle feathers among the monarchy with allegations of betrayal, racism and in some cases physical violence in their now-famous Oprah Winfrey interview, their Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, and most recently in Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir, Spare.
Several days before Spare‘s release earlier this year, a source told ET that “no one in the family trusts Harry anymore.” Since then, Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family has remained tense, but Scobie now says Charles has made room for some reconciliation.
“It was often Harry that had to kind of reach out and make that first step,” Scobie tells ET. “While sources close to Harry say that he understands that his father is never going to want to address many of the things that they experienced and went through, and some of the things that their own family were responsible for, he doesn’t want to be completely disconnected from his father.”
Scobie notes he was especially surprised to learn that Meghan also stays in contact with the king as well, “sending photos and videos of the children to Charles via one of the aides.” The line of communication, Scobie says, “shows that there is hope there perhaps for the future at least between those two.”
Endgame is available now.
RELATED CONTENT: