Princess Kate Middleton admits that learning she had cancer in early 2024 was “scary.” When doctors delivered the shocking diagnosis, which she publicly announced in March, the Princess of Wales suddenly found herself “face to face” with her own mortality, she further confessed in September after completing chemotherapy, which led her to form “a new perspective on everything.”
That includes a new outlook on the deep rift that’s divided Britain’s royal family for years. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior working royals and moved to California in early 2020 amid increasing tensions with his relatives — whom he’s accused of leaking negative stories about him and his wife to the U.K. press in exchange for favorable media coverage for themselves — it set in motion a series of heartbreaking decisions that pushed the Duke of Sussex, 40, even further from his father, King Charles III, and brother, Prince William. But with the 76-year-old monarch still undergoing treatment nearly a year after he, too, was diagnosed with cancer, “Kate wants the family to reconcile,” a source exclusively tells Life & Style. “With the king’s health continuing to decline, there’s only so much time for that to happen. Kate is on a mission to bring Harry home.”
RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK
A lot has changed in recent months. “Kate doesn’t like waiting around for things to happen anymore. She’s learned life is too precious. She fears time is running out,” explains the source. “She’s already reached out to Harry, who was receptive. The main objective of her plan is for Harry to return to Britain and make amends with Charles.”
Interestingly, the 42-year-old chose love and empathy as the themes of her annual Christmas carol concert, which took place in London on December 6. In a letter she sent to attendees, Kate, 42, urged her guests to live “with an open heart, with love, kindness and forgiveness.” The holiday season, she explained, is about “the importance of giving and receiving empathy” and showing “how much we need each other in spite of our differences.”
Following the event, royals expert Katie Nicholl noted that “possibly the Princess of Wales is still open to a reconciliation in some form.” Speaking during the December 7 episode of The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, the Vanity Fair correspondent shared that William, 42, remains “very angry” with his brother for detailing their problems in interviews and his 2023 memoir, Spare, but his wife is in a unique position to act as peacemaker: “Perhaps that will be a role that [Kate] will play at some point in healing the rift.”
OVERCOMING HURT
Harry’s made it clear he’s ready to reconcile. “The door is always open. The ball is in their court,” he told Britain’s ITV in 2023. Charles has been less forthcoming. Though Harry flew to Britain immediately after Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis in February, Charles reportedly met with him for less than an hour. He then outright snubbed his son in May when Harry visited London for a charity event, declining to meet “due to His Majesty’s full [program],” Harry’s rep was told. It’s believed that father and son also did not see each other when Harry traveled to Britain again in August and September.
Over the summer, a report claimed that Charles — who’s head of the Church of England — had taken “spiritual nourishment” from talks with religious leaders and was considering repairing his relationship with Harry. But according to Robert Hardman, author of Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, it’s complicated. Harry’s ongoing legal fight with the British government over a decision to remove security protections for him, Meghan, 42, and their kids, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, when they’re in the U.K. has left Charles fearful that Harry could use any private conversations they share about security against him in court. It’s also difficult for the king to reconcile with Harry, Hardman claims, while William and his brother remain estranged.