According to a new book by royal expert Katie Nichol, after suggesting that an impartial third party be present at a meeting between Prince Harry, his wife Meghan Markle, his father Prince Charles (now Charles III), and his stepmother Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (now Queen Camilla), Camilla was so shocked she tea She reportedly spit it out.

The exchange apparently occurred in April, when Harry and Meghan stopped in England on their way to The Hague in the Netherlands for the Invictus Games. Charles insisted that the couple meet with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before meeting with the Queen, and after Harry suggested that a mediator be present at the awkward family meeting, the Mirror reported that there were stunned looks from both Charles and Camilla.

In her book, The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the Crown (opens in new tab) (October 4), Nicole says that the Sussexes were late to the discussion and and wrote that they had only 15 minutes to speak with Prince Charles and Camilla before the new King and Queen left for the Royal Midsummer Festival at Windsor Castle.

Charles and Harry "greeted each other warmly," but there were still moments of tension, especially when Harry suggested an intermediary role. Harry "came in with a hug and the best of intentions and said he wanted to clear up any misunderstandings. 'Harry came with a hug and the best of intentions and said he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding,' a family friend said. She told Harry that that was ridiculous and that they were a family and they would work it out between themselves."

At the time, Prince William and Kate Middleton were on a ski trip with their three children and did not change their plans to return home for Harry and Meghan's visit, the Mirror reported.

Tensions remain ongoing as the Sussexes are currently at home in California following the Queen's funeral earlier this week. Harry's memoir is scheduled to be published at the end of the year, but experts say it will loom like a cloud over the family until its publication.

"Harry will no doubt be torn between his desire to be accepted by his family and the love of his wife," royal expert Robert Jobson wrote in The Sun. 'But he now finds himself in a catch-22 situation. He has signed a four-book deal with Penguin Random House. He needs the money to finance his lavish lifestyle in California. Once that book, which he is currently writing, hits the shelves, there will be no turning back for Harry."