Despite Prince Harry being in the UK this month, it is thought he won’t reach out to his family despite being just miles away from them. The Duke was due in London on September 7 – the day before the first anniversary of the Queen’s death – at the WellChild Awards before heading to Germany for the Invictus Games but decided not to meet up with his relatives in what is seen as another snub. But now insiders have told Closer that Harry, 38, has made a shock U-turn as royal expert Angela Levin says King Charles “would want” to extend an olive branch to his youngest son and invite him to celebrate his 75th birthday in November. Whether Harry has received an official invite is yet to be confirmed by the palace, but the insider says Harry plans to jet back to London regardless of what his brother Prince William and Charles’ wife Queen Camilla have to say about the matter. And while Meghan Markle, 42, is highly unlikely to step foot in London any time soon – having kept her distance during the King’s Coronation in May and throughout Harry’s on-going high-profile legal battle – the insider says Harry is eager to attend with their eldest child, four-year-old Prince Archie.

The source says, “Harry is keen to jump on a plane and hopefully take Archie with him. It will be a wonderful father-son bonding experience. They’ll get to enjoy a break in dad’s home country and hopefully take another step towards repairing long-term relationships with Charles and other members of The Firm. If there’s sourness or disapproval from Camilla, William and others then Harry figures there’s nothing he can do about that – the strategy will be to ignore them and focus on the positive, as always. It infuriates Camilla to no end, she’ll be damned if the King’s birthday celebration is turned into the Harry homecoming parade – even if Charles does think it’s a sweet idea to break the ice and bring along his grandson. Harry seems to think he can swan in and out of the UK as he pleases, kissing up to his softie of a father and sticking his nose in the air when the likes of Camilla and William are anywhere near him.”

Reports of Harry’s plans for Charles’ birthday also emerged just days after he returned from a charity tour of Asia, before it was also revealed that he will attend the London WellChild awards, again without Meghan, this month. While the couple are expected to appear at The Invictus Games together in Dusseldorf on 9th September, Harry’s solo trips have only added to the rumours of marital woes that gained momentum last week when pictures emerged of Meghan minus her huge diamond engagement. The pictures of Meghan, who is said to be having her ring “fixed”, come after months of speculation over the state of their marriage.

In May their five-year marriage was rocked by rumours of an impending split when it was revealed by a source that Harry had been spending time at the exclusive members club, San Vicente Bungalows, in Hollywood, as well as keeping a hotel room on ‘stand by’ close to their home in Montecito – a report strongly denied by a spokesperson for the couple. But cracks had begun to show as far back as January – a month after the release of their explosive Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan – when fans were quick to notice Meghan’s absence from Harry’s book tour for his memoir, Spare.

Sources later told Closer that this had been a deliberate move by the former Suits actress who – after the backlash from royalists over the shocking accusations of racism, bullying and blackmailing that she and Harry had levelled against the royals – had wanted to distance herself from the feud. And now the source says Meghan, who hasn’t returned to the UK since the Queen’s funeral last September, is less than impressed that Harry appears to be grovelling his way back into Buckingham Palace.

The source adds, “Meghan’s none too happy about it either, she thinks it sets a bad precedent to be falling at the Royals’ feet like this and essentially showing them they can be divided. Harry has come to accept it’s highly unlikely Meghan will be putting herself forward to go with him to England any time soon, if ever – there’s just way too much bad history there and a total unwillingness on her part to step back inside the lion’s den. Meghan’s uneasy about these solo trips at the best of times, so taking Archie along without her will be another big test of her patience. But she does acknowledge that it’s important for Harry to preserve some type of relationship with his father and that this is a special event he’s got every right to want to attend.”

However, the invite may have come as a shock to even Harry, after it was reported last week that “there hasn’t been any reach out” to the Sussexes from the Royal Family as they prepare to mark the one year anniversary of the Queen’s passing in an intimate ceremony at Balmoral, where the late monarch passed away on September 8th last year. Despite Harry being in London the previous day for the charity event, neither he nor Meghan are believed to have been invited. There had previously been tension around the time of the Queen’s death as it was claimed that Meghan had been banned from visiting her husband’s grandmother in her final hours, and that Harry had been informed of her perilous health hours after the rest of his family, which had meant he hadn’t reached her bedside before her passing.

But now the source says Harry – who did not attend the Trooping the Colour parade in June, which marked Charles’ ‘official’ birthday celebration – is desperate to put the past behind him, and he sees Charles’ celebration as the best opportunity to reunite with his family.

The source adds, “He does want to keep an open dialogue going with certain royals, his father especially, and he’s very honoured and grateful that he’s received this olive branch to attend the King’s birthday celebrations later this year. But it’s just so sad and unfortunate that he has to do it by himself, for Meghan as much as him. She’d love to be on better terms but that ship has sailed a long time ago – so every time Harry has to do the solo thing without her it’s just a sad event where she feels ever the outsider. He hopes this will change over time but isn’t trying to force her into something that would be deeply uncomfortable, even though he’s desperate for some type of a truce to be struck for everyone’s benefit.”