Pince Harry should ask a friend or family member to create a secret channel to broker a meeting with King Charles III, a PR expert told Newsweek.
The Duke of Sussex is due to fly to London ahead of an appearance and speech Monday for the WellChild Awards, which honors young children with complex health problems and their families. At the same time, it will be the third anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
His arrival on U.K. shores has sparked inevitable questions about whether he will see his father as the pair are not believed to have sat down together since February 2024, despite Charles having cancer.
And the situation may prove all the more complicated if Charles is up in Scotland on Monday, where he has spent the anniversary of the queen’s death, his Accession Day, the past two years.
Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek: “It’s vitally important for his feeling and his desire to have a real relationship with his dad. The challenge is there’s such a big trust gap that naturally is going to get amplified by all the players that surround both of them that it creates this emotional hurdle.
“The only way he’s really going to make that happen is for you and I and everyone else to never know about it.
“It has to be done in a back channel way that is off radar. If he does that and he’s sincere about it and he’s consistent and he’s emotionally mature I think there’s a way for him to reubild a relationship but the onus is on him to build and show that he can maintain and respect the privacy of the king and his confidence.”
Schiffer said even the involvement of royal aides could threaten the success of attempts to rebuild the royal relationship.
Instead, he suggested a royal family member or close friend of the king might have better luck.
There are not many candidates for such a task anymore, though Harry has been closer to his cousin Princess Eugenie than to many of his other relatives during his time in America.
“I think the way to get this done is going to be different than through palace aides,” Schiffer said. “You have to find some relationship that Harry can count on, and that will trust Harry to deliver for them, to put their capital with the king.
“It will need to be done through family or a very close personal friend of Charles who Harry still has a relationship with.
“Doing it through palace aides is not the way to get this done because it then has the potential to invite others and then the king naturally is going to be protective.
“He doesn’t want to look foolish. Harry’s going to need to deliver and to feel emotionally ready to deliver.”
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