Prince Harry and King Charles' Major Royal Rift Dilemma

King Charles III and Prince William's monarchy appears to be sinking further into a popularity crisis—raising the prospect that dramatic action could soon be needed to put the ship back on course.

The popularity of the British royal family has been steadily sliding for several years now, at least since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell Oprah Winfrey television interview in March 2021.

Conventional wisdom has blamed the Sussexes for growing disillusionment among 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.K. They have, in increasing numbers, been telling polling agencies that they would favor abolishing the monarchy.

However, with the one-year anniversary of the publication of Harry's memoir Spare this week, it has now been more than 12 months since he and Meghan last went on record to criticize the royals.

And it was only this week that support for keeping the monarchy hit its lowest ebb in the modern era, dropping below 50 percent.

Prince Andrew's toxic friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein may also be a factor, alongside a more general backlash against inherited wealth and privilege.

Whatever the cause, though, if the polls continue to slide, the pressure will increase for a major intervention, or perhaps several major ones, raising questions about whether a rapprochement with Harry and Meghan could help.

Some progress appeared to be made between Harry and Charles in 2023, only for Omid Scobie's book Endgame to rock the boat again by accidentally naming the king as the royal who commented on Prince Archie's potential skin tone.

The mere suggestion of a rekindling of royal relations will provoke hilarity from some and dismay from others, quite probably on both sides of the royal/Sussex divide.

However, it could benefit both sides because it would present both wings of the family as grown-ups capable of sorting out their own problems without the need for open warfare in the public domain.

One surprise aspect of Harry's book was how trivial some complaints appeared to be, again on both sides of the fence.

Prince William was said to be angry that Harry was allowed to have a beard on his 2018 wedding day, when the future king had been told to be clean-shaven on his own in 2011.

Then, Harry and Meghan were upset because they thought William and Kate Middleton moved around the place names on their wedding table.

Some might tentatively suggest that these problems should have been possible to overcome.

If a rapprochement were to happen, no doubt Harry's demands would be significant and might include police protection while in Britain. This could be an apology and recognition of his narrative about how it all went so badly wrong to begin with, as well as some kind of redrawing of the palace relationship with the media Harry hates so much.

That all creates a very substantial obstacle that now is insurmountable, but if Charles and William were, in years to come, staring down the possible abolition of the monarchy and had already tried other measures that had not worked, then minds might be a little more focused.

It is tempting to think that, if there was one person on planet Earth not inclined to swing into action to save the monarchy, then it would be Meghan.

However, Harry is on record in both his book Spare and during interviews that he is still pro-monarchy and wants to save the royals from themselves rather than scrap the institution altogether.

"My emotions are complicated on this subject, naturally," Harry wrote in his memoir, "but my bottom-line position isn't. I'll forever support my Queen, my Commander in Chief, my Granny. Even after she's gone. My problem has never been with the monarchy, nor the concept of monarchy.

"It's been with the press and the sick relationship that's evolved between it and the Palace," the prince added. "I love my Mother Country, and I love my family, and I always will. I just wish, at the second-darkest moment of my life, they'd both been there for me. And I believe they'll look back one day and wish they had too."

Charles and William would probably have to tell Harry what he wanted to hear on that final point for any deal to work. However, that would no doubt stick in their teeth after all the offense caused by Harry's outspoken criticisms.

At times, though, Harry has sounded energized about the possibility he might be the catalyst for reform. He told Bryony Gordon, of the U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph, in January 2023: "This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy; this is about trying to save them from themselves. And I know that I will get crucified by numerous people for saying that.

"I feel like this is my life's mission," Harry said, "to right the wrongs of the very thing that drove us out. Because it took my mum, it took Caroline Flack, who was my girlfriend, and it nearly took my wife. And if that isn't a good enough reason to use the pain and turn it into purpose, I don't know what it is."

Perhaps the biggest sticking point of all, though, is Prince William, who has shown far less willingness to compromise than the king and indeed Harry himself.

Meghan has been accused of bullying staff in the private office they shared with William and Kate at Kensington Palace in London. Harry's book said that William holds Meghan responsible for a toxic culture that developed.

Even for William, though, if the coming years show the current downward trend continue, there could be a very real motivation for the future king to try every option to repair the damage.

The question lying at the heart of that question would be; how much he actually wants to be king. Ironically, that is a subject on which Harry has in the past cast a sceptical eye.

In 2017, Harry told Newsweek in an exclusive interview: "We are involved in modernizing the British monarchy. We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people... Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time."

If the polls do not turn around for the monarchy, it is not completely impossible that this question will become a lot less hypothetical over the course of the next decade.

What the Polls Say

For decades, support for abolishing the monarchy barely rose above 20 percent in Britain.

During the collapse of Princess Diana and King Charles' relationship, there was a decrease in the number of people who felt Britain would be worse off without the royals. However, these people generally switched to saying that it would make no difference rather than becoming republicans.

However, support for scrapping the monarchy has been on the increase among young people in particular, while King Charles and Queen Camilla are substantially less popular than Queen Elizabeth II.

Polling by YouGov in August showed half of 18- to 24-year-olds had a negative view of monarchy generally, while 40 percent wanted an elected head of state, compared to 37 percent who desired to keep the royals.

More recent polling by Savanta, for the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, appeared to show these numbers getting significantly worse for the royals.

Support for keeping the monarchy dropped to 48 percent, while that for an elected head of state rose to 32 percent overall, with monarchy becoming a divisive subject among both Generation Z and millennials.

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.