Prince Harry's private memorial gesture may ease royal rift, says former butler

Prince Harry's private tribute to his late grandfather during VJ Day commemorations last week could help bridge his ongoing rift with King Charles III, a former royal butler suggested.

Grant Harrold, who served at the king's Highgrove estate from 2004 to 2011, praised Harry's decision to arrange a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum hours after his father's official commemoration ended.

"I think the King would've appreciated that he was not trying to hijack the occasion," Harrold told The Mirror, calling the gesture "a very clever tactic" that demonstrated diplomatic awareness.

On August 15, Harry arranged for a tribute honoring military personnel who served in the Far East to be placed at the Burma Star Memorial, specifically acknowledging Prince Philip's wartime service in the Pacific campaign.

The duke instructed that the wreath and accompanying letter be laid only after Charles and Queen Camilla had departed their official ceremony in Staffordshire.

"My late grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, served in the Pacific campaign," Harry wrote in his tribute. 

"He spoke with quiet humility about those years, but I know how deeply he respected all who stood beside him."

Harrold suggested the gesture could signal "a behind the scenes truce to move forward" between the estranged father and son.