The news came just four months after Harry, 37, and wife Meghan Markle’s scathing attack on the royals during their March interview with Oprah Winfrey, and palace insiders have been on tenterhooks since, awaiting what is teased to be an explosive tell-all.

And last week, a former royal editor said Harry’s bombshell book “will go after Charles and Camilla and maybe William”.

This follows earlier reports that the Duke of Sussex has already been in contact with his late mother Princess Diana’s former friends – setting off alarm bells that he’s set to vilify his dad and “other woman”, Camilla.

But while several members of the firm are likely to come under fire, it’s thought the one person who will escape criticism is his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton.

Despite hitting out at his father and other royals since he and Meghan stepped back from the royal family in 2020 during a series of interviews and podcasts, Harry has not criticised his sister-in-law – although wife Meghan, 40, has taken shots at her, saying to Oprah that Kate had made her cry during an altercation over bridesmaids’ dresses in the lead-up to her wedding in 2018.

And now former royal editor and author of Prince Harry: The Inside Story, Duncan Larcombe, tells Closer that Harry’s decision to steer clear of criticising Kate, 40, is because she is his greatest hope of reuniting with his family at some point.

“Leaving Kate from the memoir is a sign that she could be Harry’s last hope of healing the family rift. This will show that Kate is just a bridge that Harry won’t burn,” he says.

“It would be very sad if Harry were to turn on the person who not that long ago he described as ‘the sister he never had’. He and Kate had a deep bond.

“I think this is a signal that Kate could be the next royal he reaches out to make amends. Don’t forget that we saw with our own eyes that it was Kate who initiated conversations between the brothers at Prince Philip’s funeral [in April last year].”

Prior to meeting Meghan, Prince Harry had famously been dubbed the “royal third wheel” after his close relationship with his brother Prince William and Kate saw the trio attending their royal engagements together, often laughing and joking and clearly sharing a strong bond.