Bond's somber prediction follows Prince Harry's 39th birthday, which passed quietly on a Friday without any official public recognition from other members of the royal family. Instead, Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, marked the occasion with a more casual celebration at the Invictus Games in Germany.
Speaking on GB News from her home in Devon, Bond conveyed her thoughts to Stephen Dixon and Anne Diamond. She emphasized that the decision to overlook Harry's birthday had significant implications and cautioned that time might be running out for a royal reconciliation between father and son.
Bond pointed out that traditionally, there have been birthday greetings, especially on social media, with the exception of last year when the royal family was mourning the passing of the late Queen. This absence of acknowledgment seemed like a pivotal moment, and Bond questioned whether the well-known rift between them could ever be bridged.
The palace's official stance is that public messages are not extended to ex-members of the royal family or non-working Royals, with such messages reserved for working Royals. However, Bond found this stance peculiar and expressed her hope that in private, Prince Charles might have reached out to his son with a text or a call. Building on this notion, Bond suggested that it falls upon Charles to set aside his pride and initiate the first step in reconciling, much as it would in any other family where a parent and adult child have fallen out.
She further noted that in Harry's book and interviews, he mentioned that any negotiations or reconciliations would be conducted privately. While there is no evidence that such efforts have taken place, Bond stressed the importance of the parent taking the initiative to re-establish communication. She remained cautiously optimistic about the possibility of the lines of communication still being open.
However, when it came to the relationship between William and Harry, Bond believed that the window for reconciliation had closed. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have grown increasingly distant from the royal family after stepping back from their royal duties in 2020 and relocating to Montecito, California, where they currently reside with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lillibet.
The ongoing rift within the Windsor family has escalated due to a series of bombshell claims and revelations made by Harry and Meghan about the Royals in TV interviews and, most recently, in Harry's upcoming memoir.
