King Charles's encounter with Prince Harry this week has sparked considerable discussion within royal circles. The Duke of Sussex spent time with his father at Highgrove on Friday, marking their second meeting in less than 12 months.

Significantly, Harry's wife Meghan Markle, along with his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were also present, as was Queen Camilla, whom Harry criticised in his memoir Spare. The development has triggered a briefing war between those within the royal household who favour reconciliation and those who oppose it.

Prince William's resistance to welcoming Harry back into the royal fold is widely understood. However, there are other influential figures behind the scenes who reportedly harbour equal distrust towards the Duke.

Amongst them is said to be the King's own private secretary, Clive Alderton. According to royal expert Tom Sykes, Alderton represents a faction of courtiers intent on keeping Harry at a distance from his father.

They worry Charles is vulnerable when it concerns his son, argues Sykes, who also says they are understood to believe Harry and Meghan will seek to exploit his meetings with other royals for commercial benefit, as they have done previously.

Alderton initially began working with Charles and Camilla in 2006 and has served as their private secretary since 2015. He became the 25th Private Secretary to the Sovereign when Charles ascended to the throne in September 2022.

A Privy Council member, Sykes claims Alderton heads a group who "regard it as their duty to protect the sovereign from his own softer instincts". In his memoir, Spare, Harry portrayed Alderton in distinctly unflattering terms as 'The Wasp'.

He described him as "lanky, charming, arrogant, a ball of jazzy energy" and "great at pretending to be polite, even servile".

However, he continued: "Because he seemed so weedy, so self-effacing, you might be tempted to push back, insist on your point, and that was when he'd put you on his list. A short time later, without warning, he'd give you such a stab with his outsized stinger that you'd cry out in confusion. Where the f*** did that come from?"

By contrast, another royal household member, Theo Rycroft, is reputed to be eager to see the damaging rift mended.

According to Sykes, the former diplomat, who became the King's deputy private secretary in 2024, has his sights set on 59-year-old Alderton's position in the longer term.

Rycroft was previously reported to have wished to "knock their heads together" to encourage Harry and Charles to reconcile.

Identified as one half of a 'power couple' alongside wife Flora Astor by Tatler magazine, Rycroft is regarded as a "gatekeeper" to the monarch and was credited with arranging last year's meeting between the two.

Rycroft appears to be gaining the upper hand at present, with Charles emboldened as he responds well to his cancer treatment.

The briefing war was highlighted in a piece for the Sunday Times by royal editor Roya Nikkah, who quoted one friend of the monarch as saying: "He will never shut the door on the possibility of spending time with his family because despite all the trouble, blood is blood."

However, within the same article, she noted that others harboured concerns that Harry staying at Buckingham Palace would have afforded him an "Evita moment", while also revealing that his reaction to losing a court case against the Daily Mail, which included attacking the impartiality of the judge, left "jaws on the floor".