If you’re fortunate enough to be a grandparent, you’ll be all too aware of the heartache that comes with being apart from your grandchildren for any meaningful stretch of time.

For the majority of folk, living in close proximity to their children’s children is an absolute must. Obviously that’s not always possible – my child’s grandparents live in another country, for example – but generally speaking, grandparents want to see as much of the youngest members of their family as physically possible.

Spare a thought, then, for King Charles, who not only lives a few thousand miles away from two of his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, but is also bound by the constraints of a family feud that means seeing them is not as simple a task as otherwise should be the case.

If we’re to believe reports, Charles is adversely affected by the fact that he has seen very little of Archie and Lilibet during their early years. And yet there are obvious hurdles in his way of finding any smooth and easy solution.

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took their leave of the Royal Family – at least in so far as their official duties were concerned – an optimist might have clung to the idea that the only downside for the monarchy as a whole was that they would be short two individuals to use for public engagements and the like.

However, it quickly became apparent that there were altogether deeper reasons for the Sussexes’ decision to give up their lives as working royals, and the subsequent years have outlined beyond all doubt that there are significant cracks in the relationship and standing between Harry, Meghan, and the senior members of the Firm.

Having relocated across the Atlantic, Harry and Meghan wasted little time in letting their secrets be known to the world. Secrets, we might add, that painted the British Royal Family in a very unflattering light.

First came the bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, wherein the couple made a series of revelations that set the tone for what was to come. Seemingly untroubled by the precipitous nature of tensions between them and the likes of King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, and Kate Middleton, they then released a Netflix series further examining the woes they had endured while living as working royals in the UK.

Last but not least came Harry’s tell-all memoir, Spare. Predicted to be a loaded gun pointed directly at the heart of the Royal Family, Spare did not disappoint in its vivacity, nor the controversial nature of its content.

Put simply, relations between Harry and Meghan and the monarchy are more strained than even the staunchest pessimists would have dared predict. In recent times there has been speculation that some among the involved parties are of a mind to find common ground that might make some sort of peace treaty possible, but as stands there are too many messy moving parts, too much uncertainty and damaged pride, to know for sure.

Yet when all is said and done – and indeed the most tragic aspect of the whole debacle – this is a family we’re talking about. Though it may be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for us mere mortals to relate to the lives of the royals, it must be assumed that they, too, harbor love, regret, and all the conflicted emotions that come in between as keenly as any other human.