The nation was delighted to see Kate Middleton looking so happy and relaxed as she attended the Wimbledon final, marking her second public appearance since announcing her cancer diagnosis. All eyes were on the Princess of Wales – who is Patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club – as she entered Centre Court alongside her daughter Princess Charlotte and sister Pippa, receiving a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd. But no one was watching more closely than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who, heat can reveal, want to repair the strained relationship with their sister-in-law.
An insider tells us that seeing Kate, 42, at the tennis tournament, amid her ongoing preventative chemotherapy treatment, has prompted the Sussexes to finally get serious about a reconciliation.
“Harry was watching Wimbledon and was thrilled to see Kate looking so radiant,” says our source.
“He sent her a note to congratulate her and let her know how happy he was to see her out. He’s just so grateful that she’s on the mend and able to get back to her duties after taking time off – as is Meghan. Harry is convinced this is the perfect chance to try to repair his relationship with Kate and his brother, and Meghan is being supportive. Even though it’s an awkward situation for all of them, they both think the sooner they can put this all behind them, the better. Harry can’t believe it ever got to this point – he genuinely thought that by now they’d have found a way to reconcile – and he hates to think of it continuing. He needs to find a way to fix it.”
And according to our source, Harry believes his wife is key to making this happen – if Meghan can reach out to Kate and tell her how sorry she is that things went this far, it’ll show both her and William that the Sussexes are serious about building bridges.
Our insider says, “It’s a sensitive subject, because Harry doesn’t want to order Meghan to do anything, but the situation with his family has reached the point where he feels like the only way back is to have Meghan reach out to Kate to try to mend fences. He’s gone over so many different scenarios in his head, but he’s reached a dead end. The only thing that’s left is for Meghan to have a go at fixing things.”
The source continues, “It’s all about being the bigger person and making that first call, and Meghan has reluctantly agreed to it if that’s what Harry wants. Right now, they’re figuring out the best way to go about it, but Harry’s hoping she’ll be able to have some one-on-one calls with Kate – and Charles, too. He feels that his family may put on this hardline front of wanting nothing to do with Meghan, but if she makes the effort, he reckons they’ll be less hostile towards her, especially if she shows them how compassionate and caring she can be.
“Things can’t go on like this – Meghan has said that she doesn’t want this rift to go on for the rest of their lives, so if it’s she who needs to make the first move, she’s willing to do that for Harry’s sake and their children’s.”
Kate’s outing to Wimbledon was her first solo engagement of the year. Wearing a purple dress by Safiyaa London Cecilia, she beamed as she watched the men’s singles final in the Royal Box, before presenting the trophies to winner Carlos Alcaraz and runner-up Novak Djokovic. “Great to be back at Wimbledon!” she shared on Instagram, adding, “There’s nothing quite like The Championships.”
It came just weeks after she attended Trooping the Colour in June alongside William, 42, and their three children George, ten, Charlotte, nine, and six-year-old Louis. Kate stepped out of the public eye seven months ago after going into hospital for routine abdominal surgery. Then in March, following intense speculation, she revealed that further tests found that cancer had been present. At the time, she said that she was “well and getting stronger every day”, but asked for “time, space and privacy” to focus on making a “full recovery”.
She updated fans in a statement last month, saying she was making “good progress”, but had “good days and bad days”. She also revealed that she hoped to join “a few public engagements over the summer” but knew that she wasn’t “out of the woods yet”. She added, “I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
Despite both Kate and the King’s cancer battles, relations between Harry and his family have remained strained since he and Meghan, 42, stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California, where they live with son Archie, five, and daughter Lilibet, three. The rift became even more apparent when Harry made a series of bombshell claims about both William and Kate in his controversial memoir, Spare.
The Duke alleged that his brother physically attacked him, ripping his necklace and pushing him to the floor. He also claimed that Kate once “grimaced” when Meghan asked to use her lip gloss, and that she made Meghan cry before her wedding following a disagreement about Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress.
Last year, things went from bad to worse when Kate and Charles were named in Omid Scobie’s Endgame as the two senior royals who were alleged to have had a conversation around Archie’s skin colour before he was born.
But despite all that’s happened, Harry now wants to put the past behind him, and according to our source, he’s even set a deadline for reconciling with his family – and is aiming to get things back on track by his 40th birthday in September.
Our insider says, “Harry would love to be on better terms in time for his birthday, or at least by the end of this year. He’s just not willing to accept that he’ll never be close to his family again and he’s convinced that if he and Meghan keep chipping away, they can work their way out of this mess,” we’re told.
“Meghan is backing him all the way, she hates to see him suffer like this. When Harry goes back to the UK for his birthday he’s determined to see Kate face to face – he wants to make sure she knows how relieved he and Meghan are that she’s doing better and well on the road to recovery. He would be thrilled if William would see him, too, but for now his focus is on Kate, since she’s been much more receptive.”
The source continues, “He knows how stubborn his brother can be, which is why he’s set his sights on him and Meghan building this bridge with Kate first. Often she’s also the only one who can get through to William when he’s got his mind made up over something. Harry’s hopeis that she’ll work on softening his brother. It’s much more than just a play to get William back in his life, though – he truly misses Kate, she’s always been like a sister, and he still loves her dearly.
“The thought of her battling cancer and what the outcome could have been chills him to the bone and was a huge wake-up call. It made him realise just how crucial it is not to let this fester for any longer.”
