Everyone knew it was coming and here it is: “sources” close to Prince William and Kate insisting that they’ll never, ever speak to Prince Harry or see Harry during his visit next week, for the Invictus service. I’m surprised this exclusive didn’t come out an hour after Harry’s schedule was confirmed. Ol’ Huevo is slipping! It honestly took Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast most of the day on Monday to finally speak to his favorite unnamed friends-of-Bill. Probably the same friends who repeatedly declared that William “f–king hates” Harry and Meghan. Probably the same friends who said that the next time William speaks to his brother, it will be at their father’s funeral. Let’s see if there’s anything new in here:

Prince William and Kate Middleton will not meet Prince Harry when he returns to the U.K. next week as they don’t want to create unnecessary stress while she recovers from cancer, friends of the couple have told The Daily Beast.

“Both sides understand each other’s position clearly now,” said one friend of the couple. “William and Catherine felt completely betrayed by Harry’s memoir (Spare). They don’t speak to Harry and Meghan, and they are certainly not about to start when Catherine is at her most vulnerable.”

Harry’s camp have let it be known that he reached out privately to the princess after her cancer diagnosis; however, it is not known whether he is seeking a meeting this time. His spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

Another friend, who used to be friends with both the brothers but has not had contact with Harry since he left the U.K., brushed off suggestions that Harry’s good wishes heralded a breakthrough in relations. “[Harry is] just another person who sold his story to the papers. A ‘get well soon’ message is neither here nor there. But the whole situation doesn’t use up a huge amount of their mental energy any more. William and Kate have accepted it and moved on. Cancer puts things in perspective. William respects his father’s wish to reconcile with his son, but his focus now is on protecting his family from stressful situations.”

Official sources at the palace did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast about whether family members would meet with Harry. However, they are likely to have known about Harry’s impending trip for at least a fortnight as it was recently disclosed that Harry is required to give 28 days notice of trips to the U.K. so his security can be planned. He lost a recent case against the government in which he sought automatic police protection on British soil which would have given him more flexibility on travel plans.

[From The Daily Beast]

That part about the Windsors knowing about Harry’s trip for a fortnight is interesting – I saw some Sussex Squad people accusing the palace of leaking information about Harry’s visit, but from what I saw, the palace kept it quiet (presuming that they knew). Invictus confirmed Harry’s visit to the UK, not Buckingham Palace. So far, I haven’t seen much briefing from BP either, just the normal sh-t about “Harry should apologize to Camilla!!” Once again, Camilla and Charles are playing the brothers against each other, only I get the impression that Harry really doesn’t give a sh-t either way. Harry is just going about his business, trying to do what he feels is right. Meanwhile, William is raging yet again about “[Harry is] just another person who sold his story to the papers. A ‘get well soon’ message is neither here nor there” – William gives away his story to the papers as part of the invisible contract. William has no moral authority here.

Anyway, Harry’s visits are always interesting to watch as William gets off his ass and tries (and fails) to compete with his younger brother. When he fails, William then goes on a briefing spree about how much he f–king hates Harry. That’s been William’s go-to play for several years now, and that’s what will happen next week. Suddenly William will have urgent busywork on the 8th and when Harry still gets all of the headlines, William will call up the Times and the Mail and brief a bunch of sh-t about Harry’s visit.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.