King Charles went to great lengths to keep his reunion with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Archie, and Lilibet secret, only telling Queen Camilla the meeting was going ahead so that she could be by his side.

According to sources, not even the Prince and Princess of Wales were made aware that the meeting was taking place.

King Charles, who has sworn his youngest son and daughter-in-law to secrecy, insisting that nothing about last Friday’s reunion was leaked, only allowed aides to confirm the reunion had happened once Harry had left Highgrove House without being seen.

According to a source close to the monarch, Friday’s hour-long meeting was “completely cloak-and-dagger, orchestrated by the king.”

“The king wanted to see Harry and the children. A time was agreed for the Sussexes to come to Highgrove on Friday afternoon, and it was uncharacteristically last-minute for the king. Everyone was sworn to secrecy so that the meeting could remain private,” the source tells Vanity Fair.

Queen Camilla, who was nearby at her Ray Mill House estate, drove over to Highgrove for the meeting in “quite a hurry.”

“Charles wanted Camilla to be there for moral support and because she has been a pillar of strength for him throughout all the drama with Harry, and she dropped everything. She told no one, not even her family. She just got in the car and headed over. They were all on a mission to keep the meeting as watertight as possible,” the source says.