Queen Camilla is keeping her distance from the ongoing tension between King Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry.

As King Charles and Prince Harry face a critical juncture in their strained relationship — and with William still not speaking to his brother — Camilla is choosing not to involve herself in the family drama.

“She stays out of it,” a source tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story.

The rift within the royal family became public in 2020 when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from their royal duties. Since then, the divide between King Charles and his younger son has remained one of the most painful challenges of his reign.

Harry and Meghan relocated to the United States following growing tensions within the royal family. Their relationship with the Firm became even more strained after a series of headline-making interviews, a revealing Netflix documentary, and Harry’s memoir Spare, where he referred to Camilla as “dangerous.”

In his 2023 memoir, the Duke of Sussex opened up about the complex feelings he experienced surrounding his father’s 2005 marriage to Camilla. He also claimed that she had shared stories about him with the media in an attempt to boost her public image.

In his memoir, Prince Harry opened up about his mixed emotions around gaining a stepmother, saying, “I had complex feelings about gaining a stepparent, who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”

During a 2023 interview with Good Morning America, he elaborated: “She had a reputation or an image to rehabilitate, and whatever conversations happened, whatever deals or trading was made right at the beginning, she was led to believe that that would be the best way to doing it.”

When asked about their relationship today, he shared: “We haven’t spoken for a long time. I love every member of my family, despite the differences. So when I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other. She’s my stepmother. I don’t look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution, and done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image, for her own sake.”

King Charles’ ongoing cancer treatment has added a new level of urgency to the possibility of mending ties between him and Prince Harry — before time runs out. The two were briefly on the same continent in late May when the King and Queen Camilla visited Canada for the State Opening of Parliament — a trip widely seen as a gesture of support for the Commonwealth amidst growing strains with the U.S. However, despite their proximity, Charles and Harry did not meet.

While Prince William, 42, continues to keep his distance from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, some royal commentators argue that it’s King Charles who should take the first step toward reconciliation with his younger son.

Still, within palace walls, uncertainty and reluctance remain.

There have been moments where reconciliation seemed possible, but according to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, “the underlying issue is trust.”

“King Charles and Prince William simply don’t feel they can trust Harry and Meghan with anything confidential,” she explains.

Sources also say the King isn’t being pushed by those around him to repair the relationship. Prince William hasn’t shown any interest in making peace, and senior advisers like Clive Alderton — who was criticized in Harry’s memoir Spare — aren’t likely to support any efforts at reconnection.

“There’s no one in his inner circle saying, ‘Be a good father and take the first step,’” says Valentine Low, author of the upcoming book Power and the Palace.

Even though Prince Harry publicly called for peace during a BBC interview after losing his legal battle over government-funded security on May 2, his remarks only seemed to deepen the divide. In the interview, Harry claimed the King “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,” and added, “I don’t know how much longer my father has,” referencing the monarch’s cancer diagnosis.

“It may not have been meant as an attack,” Low notes, “but that’s how it came across — and it only makes it harder for Charles to reach out.”