The royal drama surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just took another wild turn.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now being accused by royal commentators of trying to “emotionally blackmail” King Charles into helping them regain taxpayer-funded police protection in the U.K.
Harry, 41, revealed Monday that he is reconsidering whether to bring Meghan, 44, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, on a planned trip to Britain in July. The reason, according to the Sussex camp, is security.
Harry’s request for a security package from Britain’s Royal and VIP Executive Committee, known as RAVEC, was rejected by authorities.
But critics say this should not have come as a surprise.
Harry and Meghan have not been entitled to that level of taxpayer-funded protection since they stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to California. Since then, Harry has repeatedly fought the decision in court and lost.
On The Royalist Podcast, Daily Beast royal expert Tom Sykes and Daily Mail editor-at-large Alison Boshoff questioned why Harry and Meghan spent months planning the U.K. visit if they already knew they would not receive the police protection they wanted.
“It just felt to me like a really blatant attempt and a really, actually mean attempt to kind of bounce down Charles, or to kind of emotionally blackmail Charles, into intervening in the security decisions of the British state,” Sykes said.
Sykes argued that Charles has refused to get involved in the matter, despite pressure from his younger son.
“For all my criticisms of Charles, I think to his eternal credit, he has just consistently said, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ You know, ‘I’m not going to intervene in that,’” he said.
Boshoff went even further, saying Harry appears determined to push his father into crossing a line.
“Harry seems to be intent on trying to, by one way or another, get him to cross the line,” she said.
The Sussex office reportedly declined to comment to the Daily Beast.
The family tension is especially painful because King Charles has not seen Archie, now 7, or Lilibet, now 5, in person for more than four years. His last visit with his grandchildren was during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022.
That fact has only added more emotional weight to the latest royal standoff.
Just last week, the Sussex office reportedly released a detailed schedule for the upcoming U.K. tour, which included Harry, Meghan and both children. But days later, the couple’s team suggested the trip may not happen unless they receive what they consider appropriate security.
“The issue has never been accommodation. The issue is whether appropriate and proportionate protective security is being provided throughout the entirety of the visit,” a spokesperson for the Sussexes said.
To Sykes, the timing was hard to swallow.
“It’s six years since you had it. Like, that’s the status quo,” he said. “You can’t pretend that the continuation of the status quo is a massive bolt from the blue.”
Boshoff said the situation leaves people with two possible interpretations.
“Either [Harry is] prey to a terrible, irrational paranoia… or he’s exceedingly manipulative and has been lying… in a bid to try and bounce his unwell father into doing something which he knows full well his father doesn’t want to do,” she said.
Sykes also argued that Harry and Meghan would likely have been safe without the royal security detail, especially since they had reportedly accepted Charles’ offer to stay at a royal residence during the trip.
He suggested the real issue may be less about danger and more about status.
“It just feels to me like they’re just eternally offended that they got the status connected with the security taken away,” Sykes said.
For now, Harry and Meghan’s July trip appears to be hanging in the balance.
And once again, the Sussexes’ security battle has exploded into a full-blown royal family crisis — with King Charles caught in the middle.