He at first found himself largely ostracised from his nearest kin, who all made a show of sharing social media posts of each other’s tributes to Philip – except for Harry’s own touching statement.
“Harry isolated as per government COVID-19 guidelines at Frogmore Cottage, and could literally see staff going about the funeral arrangements on the castle’s service roads around him,” explains one palace insider. “He had a lot of time alone to think, and eventually pleaded for a quick, socially distant audience with his grandmother to beg for her forgiveness for the way he behaved.”
Understandably, Harry got “quite emotional” during the meeting with his grandmother.
"He wanted to pay his respects to her before all the cameras were on them at the funeral. As always, the Queen took his apology in her stride. She forgives him as a grandmother, and is happy to leave untangling the family tensions to Charles and William,” notes the source.
Weighing heaviest on Harry’s mind is the fact he never made it a priority to visit the Duke of Edinburgh one last time when he had the chance. Instead, he was distracted by his new life in Los Angeles with Meghan and their son Archie, almost 2, and the multimillion-dollar offers that were flooding in from Netflix, Spotify and Disney.
Sources add that Harry is “incredibly remorseful” that Philip hardly got to spend time with his great-grandson, Archie.
“Truth be told, Harry was probably frightened to face the music while Philip was still alive,” says the source. “Even frail, he could dole out an incredible bollocking.
“Harry realises now it was a grave error in judgement – one that he will have to live with for as long as his life, and certainly as long as the Queen’s. He’s got some soul-searching to do.”
And according to some insiders, he’s already considering moving home to help his beloved granny as a way of making amends for his actions. At the very least, he might stay in the UK until after her 95th birthday in April, which will now be a very bittersweet day.
It comes after it was revealed that senior royals – including Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Countess Sophie, plus the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – have pledged to have at least one of them accompany the Queen at public engagements going forward, to help “fill the void” left by her loyal late husband.
“Harry had to sit around and listen to how all the others are helping the Queen in the most tangible of ways, and it seems to have reawakened his sense of duty,” says a source. “Surrounded by all this emotion and loyalty to the Crown has helped him get a different perspective on what he’s walked away from.
“Harry has confessed that he’s toying with the idea of moving his family back home, after his daughter is born, so he can be there for the Queen. Meghan won’t like it, but then she’s never understood the royals’ attitude to putting family above self.
“Harry can’t stop thinking about what his mum would’ve done if she was still alive. He knows she would have dropped all pretence of feuding to help. He feels she would want him to be with his family, where he would be most useful.”
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