King Charles has always been considered likely, when it really comes down to it, to invite Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to his Coronation. But there is a lot of face to be saved on the Sussex side after Harry suggested in an interview with Tom Bradby to support his memoir Spare that he and Meghan would require accountability as a condition of their attendance.
Now, the Mail on Sunday has an insight into a mechanism that might be used to allow Harry and Meghan to feel comfortable attending; the paper reports that Britain’s most senior churchman, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been asked to “broker a deal” between Harry and William on the matter, suggesting that William’s objections to Harry attending might be the real issue here.
William and his family were repeatedly and roundly personally attacked by Harry in his memoir and interviews and William is said to fear Harry might stage a “stunt” which could overshadow the celebrations.
Citing a source at Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop’s HQ, a source said: “The issue of substance is whether they attend the coronation, and if they do, under what terms and conditions.
“The family is split, and all the indications are that Harry is being advised to agree to nothing at this stage and ‘play it long’ right up to the last minute, which is making negotiations with him very difficult. Harry’s camp made clear that the idea that he would just attend the coronation and behave himself but then be stripped of his titles was a total non-starter.
“While he might decide at some point to discard his titles of his own volition, he objects to the idea of being forcibly stripped of them. He resents being lumped together with Andrew in the public mind as the two ‘problem princes,’ when he considers the circumstances to be totally different.”
The paper said Lambeth Palace and Buckingham Palace declined to comment, as did Harry’s office, while a source in William’s camp told the paper they were not aware of any such negotiations over the coronation.
The Archbishop could be a shrewd choice of candidate to make peace; in a seperate article the Mail on Sunday reports that there is a “closeness” between him and the couple, although given Harry’s disgust, expressed to Anderson Cooper in his interview with him, at media portrayals of Meghan as a “witch” he is unlikely to be thrilled by a source’s description of the realtionship in the paper, saying: “Justin clearly had a lot of sympathy for them [over Megxit] and we were shaking our heads wondering why he felt so sorry for them. It was like he had completely fallen under their spell.”
Will Charles finally dish on Harry and Meghan?
Of course, all the best-laid plans etc… because it is also reported today that Charles is preparing to grant the BBC a Coronation-related interview—with questions expected about his relationship with Harry and Meghan. The Mirror reports that “palace aides are discussing the possibility of the monarch using his chat to give his side of the story,” following Harry’s revelation and bitching-laden memoir Spare, and the quieter though still pointed needling contained in his and Meghan’s six-part Netflix series.
Though observers think Charles came out of the Harry hurricane pretty unscathed—compared to the charges leveled against brother Prince William, which included being physically aggressive with Harry—Harry set out to inflict maximum damage on Queen Consort Camilla, painting her as a schemer who left “bodies in the street” in her quest for royal power. Charles himself is painted as ineffectual and detached. Harry told the Netflix documentary he had been “brought up” by friends in Africa.
The BBC want Charles to do some kind of piece to camera about his life and plans as king, and any interview may be conducted by Jonathan Dimbleby, his long-term friend, to whom he confessed adultery to in a 90s documentary.
An insider told the Mirror: “Plans are already up and running for coronation coverage at the BBC, including the profile on the monarch. It is not the done thing to avoid subjects in interviews, so it makes matters tricky. Even one small comment on Harry and Meghan would make worldwide news. It could also prompt a response from Harry, which would be unpredictable, like so much. Everything is very delicate.”
New evidence shows *that* photo isn’t fake
After a series of absurd photos in a bath tub conclusively proved there was easily enough room for two people to get into the bath at Ghislaine Maxwell’s former London home (the opposite of what the Maxwells, who staged the photo, intended, see below) new evidence has emerged about the authenticity of the notorious photograph taken there of Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre’s bare midriff with a grinning Ghislaine in the background.
Michael Thomas, the photographer who originally copied the picture over ten years ago, by taking a photograph of it (a standard news gathering technique) has produced images of the back of the original picture showing a date stamp from a one-hour photo service at Walgreens.
He told the Mail on Sunday that he went back through his files this week after he heard new reports of Maxwell saying the photograph was fake.
