Prince Harry Reportedly Behind Secret 'Clear the Air' Windsor Meeting With Queen, Prince Charles

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended a special reception for the 2022 Invictus Games competitors on Friday in the Netherlands after stopping by in the UK for their first visit together with the Queen and Prince Charles since exiting the royal family in 2020.

Prince Harry was behind the “clear the air” meeting that took place at Windsor Castle on Thursday with his father, Prince Charles, and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, reported The Sun.

“Harry contacted his father and said he wanted to meet… Harry instigated it all. It was an olive branch from Harry and made in an effort to clear the air”, an insider was cited as saying.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met with Prince Charles at 10 am on 14 April , with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall also present, despite previous reports suggesting Prince Harry may “go after” the duchess in his upcoming memoirs. The couple were then granted an audience with the Queen after the meeting with Prince Charles.

“Harry contacted his father and said he was coming over with Meghan and he wanted to meet… He made the approach to Charles who was obviously very happy, and accepted. Charles maintains that Harry is a much-loved son and is always welcome to come back and visit. The Queen agreed to see them both but only after he had met Charles first”, the insider was cited as saying.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex secretly flew to Windsor Castle on 13 April and stayed the night at Frogmore Cottage, their former residence, which they have been lending to Princess Eugenie, the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, since quitting the royal fold.

The visit, ahead of the monarch’s 96th birthday, was Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first time in the UK together since they stepped away from life as working royals in 2020. They did not bring their two children: Archie, 2, and Lilibet, 10 months.

“We can confirm that they visited the duke’s grandmother, as we previously said he hoped to do. They stopped by the UK on their way to the Hague to attend the Invictus Games”, the couple’s spokesperson stated earlier.

Prince Charles, according to the insider, is eager to “heal things” with his son and daughter-in-law and wants to meet his grandchildren.

“As the Queen said when Megxit was signed, they will always be a much-loved part of the family. By seeing the Queen before they arrived in Holland for a high-profile visit, they managed to diminish any idea they were snubbing her. Charles was happy to have them”, added the royal source.

The Duke of Sussex previously lobbed a bombshell accusation at his father for “cutting me off financially” in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.

Now, the aforementioned secret get-together “buoyed” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ahead of their dazzling appearance at the Invictus Games in Holland on Friday – which marked their first public appearance together in Europe since stepping down as working royals. The Duke of Sussex, 37, together with his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped away from life as working royals in March 2020 and left for the US.

A Netflix crew reportedly filmed the couple at the event in The Hague for an upcoming documentary as part of a purportedly £112 million ($146mln ) deal with the streaming giant.

The Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans, were founded by Prince Harry. The inspiration is said to have come from his visit to the Warrior Games in the US.

The secret visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the UK to confer with the Queen and Prince Charles comes as Buckingham Palace has been accused of “trying to bury” its inquiry into allegations that Meghan Markle bullied her staff.

The Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young, is claimed to have “buried” the ensuing report amid a “wall of silence”.

No more than “four or five”' former members of the Sussexes' team have been spoken to as part of the Royal Household's official probe, reported the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, it is suggested that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle employed around 25 staff at times.

It has been over a year since the inquiry was launched, with none of the findings divulged yet. Furthermore, there has not been any confirmation that the results of the investigation, as previously suggested, will be included in this year's annual review, set to be published in June.

“This should have been an opportunity to do the right thing. Now it looks like they're going to do nothing instead. It has been a very difficult situation for all involved, but the Palace is a very powerful institution and there clearly seems to be a cultural problem of not handling bullying, particularly when you consider some of the allegations about the way Prince Andrew is said to have treated his staff over the years”, a source was cited as telling the outlet.

The insider added that the Duke of York had previously been accused of shouting and swearing at staff, as well as making “impossible demands of them over many decades”.

Always ‘Someone in Her Sights’

In March 2021, palace aides announced the start of an internal inquiry into claims that Meghan Markle’s behaviour, forcing staff to allegedly break down in tears and feel “traumatised”, had prompted two personal assistants to quit, while it “undermined the confidence” of a third.

The allegations were vehemently denied by the duchess, and her legal team denounced it as a “calculated smear campaign.”

Furthermore, it was claimed that accusations had targeted Meghan Markle to undermine her reputation ahead of her bombshell sit-down with US television host Oprah Winfrey. During the March 2021 interview, both Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, made explosive claims. Thus, an unidentified member of the royal family had allegedly voiced concern about “how dark” the couple’s firstborn’s skin might be, in a reference to Archie.

A law firm, ostensibly privately paid for by the royal family, was employed to investigate the allegations, which centre on an email sent in October 2018 by Kensington Palace's then communications secretary, Jason Knauf.

This took place six months after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married.

Knauf described to Prince William's then private secretary Simon Case, Meghan’s allegedly “totally unacceptable” behaviour, and is believed to have requested protection for the “targeted” female staff.

“I am concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights [and] I remain concerned that nothing will be done”, he is said to have written.

Since then, other witnesses have made similar claims in the media.

The royal household settled on a “procedural” investigation into how the original complaint was handled and whether any lessons could be learnt from this as part of their HR policy, according to the outlet.

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in this undated handout photo.

© REUTERS / Handout .

Critics are cited as decrying the narrow scope of inquiry.

“No-one even knows whether they have formally concluded their work, are considering their findings or are just trying to bury it all, which is actually what the consensus seems to think is happening”, a source was quoted as saying.

There has not been any comment from Buckingham Palace on any aspect of the investigation. However, in a statement dating to when the bullying allegations were first made last year, the palace said:

“We are clearly very concerned about allegations in The Times following claims made by former staff of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Accordingly our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article. Members of staff involved at the time, including those who have left the household, will be invited to participate to see if lessons can be learned. The Royal Household has had a Dignity at Work policy in place for a number of years and does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace”.