Prince Charles is currently visiting his mother, the Queen, at her summer retreat in Balmoral, Scotland. According to the Daily Mail this morning, Prince Charles was reportedly hurt by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's "hurtful" jokes about the royal family and is "completely perplexed" by their recent progress in reconciliation, and was seen heading to church alone.

Charles appeared in the press this week as part of his daughter-in-law Meghan's cover story for The Cut magazine, in which she stated that Harry "lost" his father when the couple left the UK in 2020 to start a new life in the US. (In the interest of being fair and balanced, we would also like to note here that, in the words of the Daily Mail, "Sources close to the couple say this does not refer to Prince Charles, but to her estrangement from her biological father.")

"People who know the prince say they have been hurt by the son and daughter-in-law's repeated criticism of the royal family," the Daily Mail writes. Prince Charles "loves and misses" Harry, Princess Meghan, and grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, and feels particularly hurt after spending time with them at the Platinum Jubilee in June," the source said. Charles is believed to have considered the time the Sussexes spent together a 'small act of atonement' after a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, in which Harry said he felt 'really let down' by his father."[5

A friend of Prince Charles told The Sunday Times (opens in new tab) that the Prince continues to be hurt by the ridicule not only of the royal family but of himself personally.

"For two years," the friend said, "he has been told really challenging things about a man who can't defend himself (publicly) by a couple he clearly loves and misses." That is incredibly difficult on a personal level. He is completely perplexed as to why his son, whom he loves deeply, feels this way about how to manage family relationships."

According to the Daily Mail, Harry's brother Prince William cares less about Harry and Princess Meghan than his father Prince Charles, and William "doesn't spend much time thinking about it," according to one source.

As Marie Claire previously reported, Harry and Meghan are in England this week and are unlikely to meet William and Kate Middleton. (A source told the "Daily Mail.") The Queen and Prince Charles are currently in Scotland, so it is unlikely that the Sussexes will meet either of them.