The relationship between Prince Harry and King Charles remains distant. They’ve only seen each other a few times since Harry left the UK, and those meetings haven’t been enough to truly fix things between them.

But now, there’s talk that a possible reconciliation might happen sooner than expected—if one key person steps aside. That person is the King’s private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, who’s reportedly planning to retire early.

Sir Clive, often described as the King’s “hatchet man” for his role in handling tough situations, is believed to be one of the main obstacles keeping Harry from reconnecting with the rest of the royal family.

Who is Sir Clive Alderton?

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry described his father’s most trusted aide as both “weedy” and “arrogant.”

He wrote:
“The Wasp [Sir Clive] was lanky, charming, arrogant, a ball of jazzy energy. He was great at pretending to be polite, even servile.”

Harry explained that because Sir Clive came across as weak and humble, people might feel confident pushing back or standing their ground — but that’s when trouble started.

“Because he seemed so weedy, so self-effacing, you might be tempted to push back, insist on your point, and that was when he’d put you on his list.”

Then, out of nowhere, Sir Clive would strike back sharply:

“A short time later, without warning, he’d give you such a stab with his outsized stinger that you’d cry out in confusion. Where the f** did that come from?”*

Can Prince Harry and King Charles restore their bond entirely?

Princess Diana’s biographer, Tina Brown, believes that Sir Alderton stepping down might actually lead to some positive changes.

According to Express, she wrote on her Fresh Hell Substack blog:
“If Alderton goes, it could create a new, friendlier path for negotiations with Harry to be given the security protection he seeks and to resume some curtailed version of his royal duties.

“It could also represent a great face-saver for Meghan who must realise by now that the dull demands of second-division royalty are less onerous than grinding out serial rebranding flops.

“Enough with the feuds. Families, including this one, need to stick together. William, whatever his abiding resentments toward Harry for his intemperate broadsides in Spare, should now suck it up and let his father give Harry something to do.”

The Royal Family calls Sir Clive Alderton “the channel of communication between the Head of State and the Government.”

He’s the person who told then-Prince Charles to quickly go to his mother’s side during her final hours. According to the Mirror, he’s also the one who came up with the well-known phrase “some recollections may vary” after Meghan Markle’s claims of racism within the Royal Family.

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