As the royals gathered to pay tribute to the wartime generation last week, they were determined to keep their focus firmly on the veterans, despite incoming fire from the Duke of Sussex in California.
Just three days before they gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Prince Harry had given an extraordinary interview to the BBC, in which he revealed: "I don't know how much longer my father has, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile."
Some insiders believed that with his long-running legal battle against the Home Office over his security concluded, the path may have been clear for a rapprochement of sorts between the King and his son.
But after Harry's latest very public salvo, reconciliation appears to be further away than ever.
© Getty ImagesReferring to his comments that he had forgiven his family's "involvement" in his situation, saying "my father, my brother and my stepmother, I can forgive," a former friend tells HELLO!. "He needs the world to forgive him. His family have never bent on their stance, which is that he should not take up issues in public."
"There is zero trust," added an insider. "The family feels that private conversations with Harry are not possible."
Even a source sympathetic to the Duke, told HELLO!: "It's taken its toll. He sees things everywhere, he picks battles with everybody and that's tiring. You can’t live in permanent battle mode. You’re a 40-year-old man. You’ve got to stop fighting the world."
© GettyAlongside his pleas for reconciliation with his estranged family, Harry continued to suggest the King could have changed the outcome of his security case and said it felt like an "establishment stitch up," even apparently referencing the tragic death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, claiming that some people wanted "history to repeat itself".
Whatever the reaction of the royal family behind Palace walls, however, they were determined that nothing would detract or distract from paying tribute to the bravery and fortitude of the wartime generation last week.
Harry speaks out
Earlier this month, Prince Harry told the BBC about his hopes to "reconcile" with his family after he stepped down as a working royal in 2020.
© BBCHarry, his wife Meghan Markle and their son, Prince Archie, subsequently moved to the United States, where Harry and Meghan welcomed a daughter, Princess Lilibet.
In an interview with the BBC, Harry revealed that his father, King Charles, is no longer speaking to him, mainly because of the ongoing row over his "security" arrangements.
LISTEN: How King Charles found out about Harry's shocking interview
The father-of-two spoke of his want to reconcile with the family, saying: "I would love reconciliation with my family, there's no point in continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious, I don't know how much longer my father has, he won't speak to me because of this security stuff."
However, he conceded that any reconciliation would be in his family's hands, adding: "If they don't want that, that's entirely up to them."
