Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been offered an olive branch by King Charles in a sweet gesture thought to be made by the reigning monarch. As most families do, the King has pictures of his relatives scattered across his residences, but one sign has shown he’s keen to build bridges with Harry and Meghan.
The Mirror reveals that Charles, 76, has carefully chosen to display pictures of the Sussexes throughout his official Northern Irish residence, Hillsborough Castle, mainly in the State Drawing Room, despite Harry and Meghan stepping down as working royals in 2020.
A source told the outlet: “Royal Historic Palaces make decisions on what they believe to be appropriate. They are also guided by members of The Royal Family, but the decision over what pictures of the family to use ultimately lies with the King.”
In recent years, tensions between the royals had been brewing following Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down as senior working Royals in 2020.
Although Hillsborough Castle is the official royal residence in Northern Ireland, the estate has been managed by Historic Royal Palaces since April 2014 and is open to paying members of the public. It has 98 acres of beautiful ornamental gardens, peaceful woodland and meandering waterways.
Tensions between Harry and his father have wound down after Harry jetted into the UK just hours after he discovered his father was battling cancer. Since then, King Charles met his youngest son at Clarence House last month, with the pair enjoying tea together.
Following the King and Harry’s recent reunion, it was reported that the meeting was “distinctly formal,” with the Duke said to have been left feeling like an “official visitor”.
However, a spokesperson for the Duke quickly dismissed this, saying: “Recent reporting of The Duke’s view of the tone of the meeting is categorically false.”
They added: “The quotes attributed to him are pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son. Presumably, those same sources have also chosen to disclose that gifts were exchanged.
“While we would have preferred such details to remain private, for the sake of clarity, we can confirm that a framed photograph was handed over; however, the image did not contain the Duke and Duchess.”