King Charles has been branded "way too soft" on Prince Harry by one of Australia's most prominent royal commentators, amid reports the monarch is poised to extend an olive branch to his troubled youngest son.

The Duke of Sussex is due to return to Britain next month, with reports suggesting his father will offer him a room at Buckingham Palace. This follows the King's successful reunion with Meghan Markle and his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

However, speaking on News 24 – the new name for Sky News Australia – Dee Dee Dunleavy told host Rita Panahi that Charles was not thinking straight on the matter and was disregarding Prince William's feelings entirely.

"Yeah, I think there's a danger that King Charles is being too soft here, and overly conciliatory to Harry. Number one, for me, would be William's feelings. William's been doing all the hard work. Harry just left any duties that he had and left it all to William to do. You think of kids in the family, sibling rivalry and how they fight, it's going to be harder to get those two to sort things out."

Panahi, who previously claimed the Sussexes had "trashed" the legacy of Queen Elizabeth, added: "And let's not forget the attacks that Meghan launched against Kate, even as she was battling cancer. And I think it's gonna be very hard for William to forgive and forget that also."

Dunleavy, known as the 'Queen of Melbourne radio', argued that Harry ought to apologise to his family for his "attacks" on them across various interviews, documentaries, and his contentious memoir, Spare.

"He made millions off of that," she said. "And I think that reconciliation would be a good thing for the royals. It would make the monarchy stronger. But it comes at a cost.

"Harry has to apologise to the family before he can be welcomed back into the fold. And I don't think he should be given a room at Buckingham Palace. He's not a working royal. I think Charles has gone way too soft on him."

Panah added: "And you know what? He made all those accusations, he threw all that mud publicly, so the apology has to be public. You can't just have a chat with Prince William and say, 'I'm sorry about all that. I don't know what I was thinking.'"

"You've got to do it publicly. He also did it knowing the Palace can't respond. So him and Meghan could go on Oprah and all these different podcasts and on their reality show and say whatever they wanted. And the Palace could not really counter it in any meaningful way, because that's not how they operate. And he knew that full well."

Rounding off the segment, Dunleavy concluded: "And that would explain why William is especially angry, because he's had no right of reply."