How Prince Harry was shaken by harsh one-word response from Charles and William at ‘secret meeting’: ‘Painfully tepid’

Prince Harry revealed in his memoir Spare the harsh one-word response Prince William and King Charles offered during a "secret meeting" he had asked for to make peace amid their feud. Harry recalled that he returned to London for Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021, which was his first trip back after stepping down from the royal family. It was also his first trip to the UK after his and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Harry recalled that he felt anxious while waiting for Charles and William. At one point, he thought they had decided not to see him. Then finally, he saw the two approaching with a "grim, almost menacing" expression.

Harry said that he offered them "a weak smile,” but they refused to reciprocate. That made him feel "a hugely intense vulnerability" and reminded him of Princess Diana, his late mother. He hoped she could give him strength during the meeting.

Harry said that when he greeted William and Charles, they responded with a single word, which was "painfully tepid": "Harold."

‘Now my heart really started thrashing in my chest’

"At last, I saw them. Shoulder to shoulder, striding towards me, they looked grim, almost menacing. More, they looked tightly aligned. My stomach dropped. Normally they'd be squabbling about one thing or another, but now they appeared to be in lockstep - in league. The thought occurred: Hang on, are we meeting for a walk...or a duel?” Harry wrote in his book.

"I rose from the wooden bench, made a tentative step towards them, gave a weak smile. They didn't smile back. Now my heart really started thrashing in my chest. Deep breaths, I told myself. Apart from fear, I was feeling a kind of hyper-awareness, and a hugely intense vulnerability, which I'd experienced at other key moments of my life. Walking behind my mother's coffin. Going into battle for the first time. Giving a speech in the middle of a panic attack,” he continued.

"There was that same sense of embarking on a quest, and not knowing if I was up to it, while also fully knowing that there was no turning back. That Fate was in the saddle. OK, Mummy, I thought, picking up the pace, here goes. Wish me luck. We met in the middle of the path. Willy? Pa? Hello. Harold. Painfully tepid,” he added.

After the release of Spare, Harry told The Telegraph that there were many stories about his family he had omitted. "It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out,” Harry said at the time.

"There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don't want the world to know. Because I don't think they would ever forgive me,” he added.

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