Prince Harry last night lambasted ‘men in grey suits’ at Buckingham Palace, accusing aides of trying to sabotage his reconciliation with the King.
The Duke’s furious broadside is an extraordinary echo of his mother Princess Diana‘s criticism of shadowy royal courtiers – who she also derided as ‘the men in grey suits’ and accused of undermining her.
Harry is understood to be infuriated at what he sees as a concerted campaign by unnamed Palace officials to torpedo his efforts to strike a rapprochement with his father by giving hostile briefings to newspapers.
‘The relationship between the Duke and His Majesty The King is a matter for the two of them and the two of them only,’ a source close to the Duke told The Mail on Sunday.
‘The men in grey suits should stay out of it.’
The increasingly bitter war of words between Harry’s camp and Palace officials erupted after this newspaper revealed last weekend that talks were under way between aides to gradually bring the King and his younger son together in a public show of unity.
The MoS disclosed that as part of cautious plans to foster a reconciliation, the Duke might take part in more public events in Britain, though not as a working member of the Royal Family.
Details of the talks came after Harry spent 50 minutes with the King at Clarence House earlier this month – their first face-to-face meeting in 18 months.
Prince Harry has lambasted ‘men in grey suits’ at Buckingham Palace, accusing aides of trying to sabotage his reconciliation with the King
Prince Harry is seen leaving Clarence House after meeting his father King Charles III on September 10
But within hours of the MoS publishing its story, insiders began briefing journalists that Harry will never be allowed to return as a ‘half-in, half-out’ working royal – despite such a claim not appearing in this newspaper’s report.
In a waspish comment about the significance of the Duke’s meeting with Charles, one unnamed source suggested those in Team Harry had ‘mistaken a brief tea and a slice of cake for the Treaty of Versailles’.
On Saturday, in a further apparent escalation, The Sun newspaper claimed that Prince Harry’s meeting with his father had been ‘distinctly formal’ and that the Duke had later described the meeting as ‘very official, like an official visit’.
It cited insiders claiming that the ‘awkward exchange’ was carried out in a similar style to that of dignitaries visiting royal residences.
The newspaper pointedly reported that Charles’s meeting with his son was his shortest of the day and claimed there were no plans for father and son to be seen together in public.
When the newspaper declined to retract the quotes on Saturday, the Duke’s spokesman issued a stinging statement, saying: ‘Recent reporting of the Duke’s view of the tone of the meeting is categorically false.
‘The quotes attributed to him are pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son.’
The spokesman also claimed that ‘presumably, those same sources’ had inaccurately told The Sun that Harry had handed his father a framed photograph of himself with wife Meghan and their children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, to mark the reunion.
The monarch was said to have given his younger son an early birthday present, six days ahead of his 41st birthday.
The spokesperson said: ‘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.’
Harry has long railed against senior Palace courtiers who he claims are behind negative stories about him and his wife Meghan.
In his excoriating memoir, Spare, he referred to a mysterious trio he named ‘Bee, Wasp and Fly’, who he said handled the tense negotiations that resulted in him and Meghan stepping down from public duties and moving to California in 2020.
The Duke’s furious broadside is an extraordinary echo of his mother Princess Diana’s criticism of shadowy royal courtiers – who she also derided as ‘the men in grey suits’ and accused of undermining her
‘I’d spent my life dealing with courtiers, scores of them,’ Harry wrote. ‘But now I dealt mostly with just three, all middle-aged white men who’d managed to consolidate power through a series of bold Machiavellian manoeuvres.’
Such criticisms echo those of his mother Diana who was said to have described courtiers who briefed against her during the breakdown of her marriage to Charles as the ‘men in grey suits’.
A year ago, the Sussexes launched ‘Operation Bring Harry Back In From The Cold’ – a strategy to win back the trust of the Royal Family.
It followed a tumultuous few years dominated by the hugely damaging allegations made by the Sussexes about the Royal Family in their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and their Netflix series – as well as those Harry made in his memoir.
The campaign to rebuild trust and thaw relations received a major boost in July when two of Harry’s key aides met one of the King’s top advisers. Then, on September 10, the King and Harry finally met at Clarence House.
The MoS understands Harry plans to come to the UK ‘four or five times’ a year from now on.
His aides are said to be working towards the goal of seeing the Duke appear in public with the King at the Invictus Games in Birmingham in 2027. In the meantime, he has made it clear that during the coming year ‘the focus really has to be on my dad’.
The Duke is even said to be living in hope that Prince William might attend the event.
Such a move may, however, prove impossible. One well-placed insider told the MoS earlier this month: ‘William is back at the point where if you mention Prince Harry in his presence he would throw you out of the room.’
The Sun stood by its claims on Saturday. A spokesman said: ‘In his statement, Prince Harry confirms the exchange of gifts, including a family photograph.
‘The office of the Duke of Sussex was given full right of reply in advance of publication and opted not to give a response to The Sun’s carefully sourced account. We have today updated the online article to include his new statement.’
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
