Royal family has ‘no trust’ in Prince Harry and is ‘wary’ of talking to him

The Royal family has lost all trust in the Duke of Sussex and is now “wary” of talking to him in case its words are repeated in television interviews or his next book, sources have revealed.

Now that his memoir, Spare, has been published, the Duke has indicated that he wants to sit down with his family and talk in an attempt to reconcile.

However, he has insisted that such conversations would have to be based on trust amid concern they could be leaked to the media.

The Duke’s closest relatives are thought to be staggered that he could make such demands after revealing so many intimate family moments in his book, alongside a host of barbs.

The family has also indicated that it has a different version of events. One source told The Telegraph of its reaction: “To quote the late Queen, ‘recollections may vary’.” 

A different royal source said: “There will be a real level of anxiety that anything they say now will appear in a broadcast interview or the next book. There is no trust, that is gone.

"The reconciliation will take a long time, if it happens at all, and if this is a four-book deal he will have to dig deep to find some more stuff to say.”

The source noted: “If the boot was on the other foot and William did this, Harry would be the first one to jump up and down and complain."

Another source close to the family said that “of course” they are wary of sitting down with the Sussexes in private after the slew of revelations from their Netflix documentary series and now, the book.

They questioned how the King and the Prince of Wales could now trust him, noting that everything appeared to be treated as content to be released for commercial gain.

And one said that the royals would not even dare to write a letter at this stage, after text messages sent between the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex were published in his book.

“There has been a complete breakdown of trust," added the source.

The Duke has admitted in television interviews that he has not spoken to his father or his brother for “quite a while”. The two sides are not thought to have had any contact since the content of Spare was first leaked in Spain last week.

However, Harry appears to believe that his family owe him an apology and has said that the “ball is in their court”.

He has demanded “accountability” as a precursor to any chance of reconciliation.

“I really look forward to having that family element back,” he told Anderson Cooper, the American broadcaster, on the CBS show 60 Minutes.

“I look forward to having a relationship with my brother. I look forward to having a relationship with my father and other members of my family. That’s all I’ve ever asked for.”

Challenged about why he had not tried to build bridges in private, he insisted that he had done but that “every single time” there had been "briefings and leakings and planting of stories" against him and Meghan.

He said he hoped that he was now speaking a language that “perhaps they understand”.

He told Good Morning America that he “genuinely believed” they could put their differences behind them, adding: “There's a lot that I can forgive, but there needs to be conversations in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability.”

He added: “I just hope that there's a way that we can have a conversation that is trusted within that conversation that isn't then spilled to the British press. That's where I am."