“He really ought to talk to Princess Anne,” a friend of the family told The Sunday Times ‘s royal editor, Roya Nikkhah. “She often talked about how, as children, she was treated so differently from Charles. She was second to him and kicked further down the line of succession as a woman, but she forged her own path.”

A secret meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry's team has reportedly sparked tension with Prince William as the monarch seeks reconciliation with his son.