King Charles reacts to Prince Harry ‘disrespectful’ birthday invite snub

King Charles wanted his estranged son, Prince Harry, his wife Meghan Markle, and their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to be with him on his big day.

The new monarch extended an olive brand to Harry, the Duke of Sussex, for this purpose by inviting him to his 75th birthday bash, scheduled for the following week at Clarence House.

But to his surprise, Harry refused to attend the event, depriving Charles of his wish to spend his birthday with both his sons and their families.

Speaking on the matter, a close pal of King Charles revealed that despite the humiliating snub, he will not stop sending invitations to Harry to attend family gatherings.

They said that the snub did not change Charles' "love" for Harry, hinting that the monarch is desperate to mend rift with his younger son.

"When he gets to the end of another successful work day and thinks of his family, there will always be a twinge in his heart about a problem he hasn’t been able to solve yet," the pal said of Charles.

"But he will be taking the long-term view. The current act is a challenging one," they told The Sunday Times. "There are issues that aren’t resolved and there won’t be a rapprochement any time soon."

"There is the sense of a cooling-off period from the family that is under way after the aftershocks of the book and interviews."

"But that doesn’t change the King’s love for his son. He’ll never not invite his son to a family gathering, because that’s not who he is."