King Charles said to be ‘deeply hurt’ as Prince Harry looks into ditching his family name

Last week there was a glimmer of hope that the royal rift was shrinking. Now it seems things are worse than ever after Prince Harry has reportedly been looking into changing his family name, something which would have apparently upset King Charles.

Harry has allegedly considered changing his family name to “Spencer” which was his mother Princess Diana’s name. According to an article from GBNews, the Prince previously sought to drop his current family name, Mountbatten-Windsor, in order to replace it with something that would honor his late mother.

Harry reportedly broached the topic with his uncle, Earl Charles Spencer, during a trip to the U.K. It’s said that his uncle advised against the idea, citing the near impossible amount of legal obstacles the prince would have to overcome in order to make the change. If he had gone ahead with the change then it would have seen Harry, Meghan, and their two children Archie and Lilibet change their names too.

Harry’s query will likely have hurt King Charles

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams claims that the king would no doubt have found it “deeply hurtful” that his son considered changing the name he got from his father. Considering how tense things are between the family right now it’s probably quite difficult not to take it personally and it seems like a direct attempt from Harry to cut off Charles. 

“Someone’s family name is a pivotal and public link to the other family members,” Fitzwilliam points out. Dropping the royal name would have sent a clear message that the Prince wants nothing to do with his family across the pond anymore. 

“The King will be appalled that his youngest son has considered such a drastic step,” Fitzwilliams continues. The name Mountbatten-Windsor is apparently cherished by Charles as it is a great part of the royal family’s history. The name combines the royal family name of Windsor with the adopted surname of Prince Philip.

Has Harry changed his tune?

Recently the Prince has spoken of reconciliation between him and his father along with the rest of the royals. That would certainly indicate that he no longer feels as strongly about cutting off his family in the U.K. but his father might find it a little hard to move past the fact that Harry was so close to erasing his own family history by changing his name. The only thing that stopped him were the legal obstacles.

So will this news further divide the King and Prince who have been distant for so long? Or will Charles be able to move past this latest betrayal and finally forgive his son? Only time will tell.