King Charles III reportedly found himself "worried" his estranged youngest son, Prince Harry, would "tape" their conversation had he met with him on Wednesday, May 8.
"When King Charles heard his son was planning to return for the Invictus Games, he joked that if he saw Harry, he would have to have him searched first to see if he was taping their conversation!" royal author Tom Quinn told Daily Mirror.
"And, of course, at many levels, this is no joking matter," he added when highlighting the seriousness of the family feud that could lead to something like the taping of conversations.
His Majesty also seems to nervous about his estranged Sussex daughter-in-law, Meghan Markle.
"King Charles now fears that anything he says to his son may end up in a book written by Meghan," Quinn added. "There was a sigh of relief at Kensington Palace and Clarence House that Harry appears to have scrapped the idea of a second book after his bestseller Spare, but the focus has now switched to Meghan."
Quinn predicts that Her Royal Highness will likely try and tie the tell-all into her new lifestyle brand. "For all her efforts to make a success of her new online business, America Riviera Orchard, Meghan knows that a personal memoir of her time in the U.K. as a working royal would sell millions of copies and make her the sort of money she craves."
He continued: "She is also acutely aware that such a book would only boost traffic to her new online business. All this fills King Charles with horror because Harry is bound to be a major contributor to the book."
Other analysts take a more direct approach by not insinuating that the "meeting" was an example of the palace in "stealth mode" to ensure the world knows they intended this to be a "snub."
"This will be seen as a snub," royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams explained. "There is little doubt that this was not arranged as it should have been as King Charles has always made it clear that his door is open to Harry."
Harry famously flew to visit his dad on February 6 after the sovereign revealed his cancer diagnosis to the world the day before. Some reports claim the Duke and monarch met for an hour, some say 45 minutes, and others claim the actual sit-down meeting lasted a mere 12 minutes.
"Their meeting after the King's diagnosis was extremely brief and we do not know how well it went," Fitzwilliams added.
Perhaps His Majesty was also worried that the first meeting was "taped" and would become fodder for more tell-alls...
