Inside forlorn & isolated Harry’s life as ‘Spare’ to Meghan & how he only heard about King’s hospital visit on the NEWS
PRINCE HARRY only heard about his father’s trip to hospital with side effects from his cancer treatment at the same time as the rest of the world – when the news broke on Thursday evening.
Which just about sums up how isolated and lonely the Duke of Sussex has become, as Monday marks the fifth anniversary of Megxit.
We can reveal that Harry — who 13 months ago was granted only half an hour of his dad’s time after jetting back to see him when his cancer was first announced — has barely spoken to his family in years.
As he grows increasingly alone in California while Meghan launches a series of glitzy, heavily-promoted solo projects, an insider told The Sun: “First he was a spare to William, now he’s increasingly looking like a spare to Meghan — and it’s not a great look.”
Even his cousin Princess Eugenie — who remained his last remaining royal ally — has been cast out by the paranoid prince.
So much has disappeared
Insiders say lonely Harry, 40, rarely leaves the couple’s mansion in Montecito, and while Meghan strides forward with her lifestyle and podcast projects, he has no fresh filming plans with Netflix in the pipeline.
The Sun understands he was not told about his father’s hospital admission because the Palace did not want to cause unnecessary alarm by contacting Harry 5,000 miles away.
It’s a far cry from the days when the party-loving prince was surrounded by friends and family — and whose heavy workload included the Invictus Games, forces’ charity Walking With The Wounded, landmine clearance organisation The HALO Trust and the London Marathon Charitable Trust.
He misses his family terribly, but no one is speaking to him any more. He just wants to go for a beer with the guys, but his only friends are just Meghan’s friends’ husbands.
Source close to Harry
There was also the mental health awareness campaign Heads Together, which Harry founded to great fanfare alongside his brother William and sister-in-law Catherine.
Now so much of that has disappeared — leaving the forlorn prince as a party of one.
A friend said: “He misses his family terribly, but no one is speaking to him any more.
“He just wants to go for a beer with the guys, but his only friends are just Meghan’s friends’ husbands.”
It’s not that long since Meghan and Harry seemed to have the world at their feet, bolstered by a roster of celebrity pals and a heroes’ welcome in the US for the pair, who had been married for just two years.
But things have not been plain sailing since then — and just this week Harry stepped down from his HIV and Aids charity Sentebale amid accusations of bullying and racism.
The charity, set up in memory of his mother Princess Diana, was one of the remaining legacies from his time as a working royal.
But he says he won’t return to the UK with Meghan and their two young children unless he wins his High Court case for 24-hour armed security which was removed when he stepped down as working royal.
And while it is believed he remains in touch with a few long-standing mates from the UK, many have abandoned him after his attacks on the Royal Family.
His previously close relationship with Eugenie has also faltered in recent years.
Harry and Meghan even bought an “investment property” in Portugal near Eugenie and her husband Jack and holidayed there in September 2023.
But the friendship was “soured” after she was photographed with Harry and Meghan critic Piers Morgan last April, it is understood.
A friend said: “A dim view was taken of this, as Piers has clashed with Meghan and Harry in the past.
“Eugenie has been supportive of Harry and Meghan for years and was right there at the beginning of their relationship — but it has now soured.”
A perceived growing closeness with Diana’s brother Earl Spencer — who has just gone through his third divorce — has been overstated — with claims Harry stayed at the Spencer’s family home Althorp House last August understood to be incorrect.
He jetted back for uncle Robert Fellowes’ funeral which was also attended by Prince William.
But the brothers — who have barely spoken since Megxit — did not share a word.
Harry was also a glaring omission from the Duke of Westminster’s wedding in the summer where William was an usher.
He may well be a devoted and loving father to his two children Archie, 5, and three-year-old Lilibet.
But the Sussexes have disagreed in the past over how much they could allow their children to be seen in public.
‘Conscious business uncoupling’
Harry, who has cited his own childhood, wants to keep their children out of the press.
But Meghan is more in tune with the US celebrity vibe of using your children as part of your brand.
She’s increasingly featured the two children in social media posts and promotional material for her company launches this year.
Although neither child made an appearance in her Netflix cookery show that was released last month — to very mixed reviews.
We know that Harry and Meghan have undergone a “conscious business uncoupling” this year — which means they spend less time together.
Since January their working brands have been separated with Meghan rebranding her lifestyle brand into ‘As ever’ and her upcoming podcast ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’.
Harry was demoted to a few seconds looking uncomfortable in the final scene of her much-derided Netflix series ‘With love, Meghan’.
In his first 18 months after Megxit came into force Harry bought a California mansion, got a job at a Silicon Valley start-up, had a second child, started writing his memoir and signed a mega-bucks deal with Netflix.
Since then, his Netflix show ‘Polo’ bombed, all contact with his brother and father has ceased and this week he stepped down from his Sentebale charity set up in his mother’s memory amid “misogyny” and “racism” allegations.
There are no plans for any more Netflix shows with Harry in front or behind the camera, it is understood, as the deal runs out.
But his job as a ‘Chief Impact Officer’, or Chimpo, at start-up BetterUp is thought to be continuing.
The Invictus Games community is often dubbed Harry’s “family” but there is not another tournament for another two years when it is hosted by Birmingham.
I love my family, the fact I could jump on a plane and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.
Harry talking about King Charles after his cancer diagnosis
At the 2023 Games in Dusseldorf he was hanging with male friends and going for pints of Guinness in an Irish bar.
Meghan left this year’s games in Canada early to be at home with their two children, leaving Harry alone on Valentine’s Day.
The Invictus Games, and to a lesser extent WellChild patronage, are the only things from his pre-Megxit royal life that he has clung on to.
This week, after a legal row with the Sentebale charity’s chairman Dr Sophie Chanduaka, he stepped down from the organisation which he had set up in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help children with HIV and Aids.
In a hugely damaging statement Dr Chanduaka blasted what she described as “weak governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir [misogyny directed at black women] — and the cover-up that ensued”.
Capt Mark Dyer, who Harry portrayed in his memoir Spare as a father figure and close pal, has also stepped back from the charity.
Five years ago the settlement agreed with his gran the Queen included Harry and Meghan using Frogmore Cottage as their UK home.
But they were evicted a few weeks after the King’s Coronation.
Last February after jetting back to see his father days after his cancer diagnosis, Harry said: “I love my family, the fact I could jump on a plane and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.”
He claimed “any illness, any sickness brings families together” and pledged: “I’ll stop in and see my family as much as I can.”
But Harry has not seen his father since and having to learn via the news when the King goes to hospital, his loneliness and isolation is set to continue.