Prince Harry’s meeting with his father after King Charles was diagnosed with cancer may have been short, but it is said to be a huge step towards improving relations among the Royal Family.
The meeting between the King and Prince was said to be short because Charles was feeling tired following on from treatment the previous day.
Harry had flown from California to see his father after the King called him personally to break the news of his diagnosis. But while the two appear to be finding some common ground, the rift between Harry and William appears to remain.
It would appear the two brothers have no plans to meet while Harry is in England. Sources close to both brothers say Prince William is “focussing on other matters”.
According to The Times, the pair have not spoken for over a year. It also reports there is “nothing in the diary” for the two brothers to finally have a meeting.
In his book Spare, Prince Harry described his relationship with his brother as a “rolling catastrophe”. Yet The Times say the pair have a mutual friend who could act as a bridge to help them fix the feud.
Mark Dyer, a former Welsh Guards Officer and former equerry to the King, was a mentor to both of the princes after Diana’s death. He is also believed to have comforted Harry in recent years.
His son Jasper served as a page boy for Harry and Meghan while Dyer stayed in touch with the Duke of Sussex after his move to the United States.
Dyer was said to be a mentor for Harry through his teenage years and is now a channel for the prince to keep up-to-date with his family. And, more recently, Dyer himself overcame a bout of stomach cancer.
A Times source said: “Mark can always be relied on to talk sense into Harry and will be a stoic under-the-radar support for Harry in what has the propensity to be a stress-inducing time for him. He also has the benefit of knowing what it’s like to live through a cancer diagnosis.”
Dyer, known informally as “Marko”, features in Spare. Harry writes: “Of all Pa’s people there was consensus that Marko was the best. The roughest, the toughest, the most dashing.”
Harry also recalls the King deploying Dyer to Eton to confront him about possible drug use. The pair later travelled together and have remained close, with Dyer joining the team leading the Sentebale charity.
Dyer is even listed in the acknowledgements section of the book.
Harry wrote: “Love and thanks to friends and colleagues who helped jog my memory or else restored important details lost in the haze of youth.”
A source told The Times they were unsure how many people in Britain Harry believes he could trust. They said: “I’m not sure how many people Harry feels he can truly trust out of his old set in Britain but Dyer is certainly one of them.”
