The flame-haired former equerry to the King who could heal Harry and William’s rift: How ‘second dad’ Mark Dyer, a cancer survivor and mentor to the princes after Diana’s death, will act as mediator between warring brothers

Prince Harry’s brief meeting with King Charles has renewed hopes of a royal truce – but with the Duke’s relationship with William still ‘incredibly broken’, an old confidant is being touted as the one man who could build a bridge between the brothers.

Harry met his father for the first time in 17 months yesterday – for just 45 minutes – following the King’s cancer diagnosis. Their brief meeting took place at Clarence House, with Charles emerging soon after looking remarkably fresh and cheerful. 

But hopes of a broader familial reconciliation were quickly scotched, with a source close to the Prince of Wales making it abundantly clear that he had ‘no plans’ to see his younger brother.

William, 41, is now completely estranged from his 39-year-old sibling following several years of vicious attacks against the monarchy, including personal criticism of himself and his wife, Kate, in his searing biography, Spare. 

Yet a source has pointed out a mutual friend who might be able to act as a bridge between the brothers – the former Welsh Guards officer turned royal equerry Mark Dyer. 

The flame-haired man of action – known to friends as ‘Marko’ – served the former Prince Charles until the mid-1990s, and acted as a mentor to the princes after the death of their mother, Diana, in 1997. 

Dubbed Harry’s ‘second dad’, he is now thought to be a conduit through which the prince can keep in touch with his family and friends in the UK. 

The Cheltenham College-educated pub owner appeared in Spare as the finger-wagging royal bodyguard who confronted Harry about his use of illegal drugs, and more recently survived stomach cancer. 

His relationship with both royal brothers – and his no-nonsense nature – could make him a useful mediator in any future discussions between them, according to insiders. 

‘Mark can always be relied on to talk sense into Harry and will be a stoic under-the-radar support for Harry in what has the propensity to be a stress-inducing time for him,’ the source told The Times. 

‘He also has the benefit of knowing what it’s like to live through a cancer diagnosis.’ 

In his previous role as one of Charles’ most trusted advisers, Mr Dyer would visit William at boarding school, help foster Harry’s romantic relationships and protect both young princes from prying photographers.

Since then, he created – and then sold – a chain of pubs. And he has fought a battle with stomach cancer, returning home to his family last year after six weeks in hospital.

His son, Jasper, is Prince Harry’s godson, who served as a page boy at Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018.

Dyer was steadying influence and a big brother figure to the princes in the mid-Nineties when he spent 18 months working as an equerry to Charles.

The Prince of Wales appointed him to keep an eye on his sons, a male counterpart to royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke.

During the first half-term after Diana’s death, Prince Charles was committed to a five-day visit to Africa.

Dyer took Harry along and organised a safari in Botswana for him while the Prince carried out engagements.

But Dyer’s role was not always to provide a softer support for the teenaged prince.  Royal biographer Penny Junor once described Mark as one of the ‘few people who talks some sense into him’. 

In Spare, Harry recounted losing his virginity to an unnamed older woman in a field behind a ‘very busy pub’ at the age of 17.

He was still a student at Eton College in 2001 when Dyer paid him a visit, with Harry suspecting he had heard about the one-night stand – which he described as a ‘humiliating’ experience.

But over lunch in a cafeteria in the city centre, Dyer – who had a ‘sombre look’ on his face – told the Prince that he had been sent to ‘find out the truth’ about his drug-taking.

King Charles’s press office had been informed that a newspaper had evidence of Harry taking drugs.

When Harry did admit to smoking cannabis as a teenager, it was Dyer who escorted him to spend a day at a residential centre for drug users in Peckham, South London, at the insistence of his father.

When his school years ended, Harry’s closeness to Dyer grew as the pair travelled together to Australia, Argentina and Lesotho during Harry’s gap year. 

The two months Harry spent in Lesotho, at the invitation of Dyer’s friend, Prince Seeiso, made a lasting impression on the royal when he worked with orphaned children with Aids and met other traumatised youngsters.

When he returned to the UK, Harry told Prince Charles he wanted to start a charity and Dyer was the driving force behind its foundation, alongside Harry and Prince Seeiso, according to Penny Junor. 

Sentebale, of which Dyer is a trustee, supports orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho, many of whom are affected by HIV and AIDS.

Harry remains good friends with Dyer, and once recalled of him: ‘Of all Pa’s people there was consensus that Marko was the best. The roughest, the toughest, the most dashing.’

The former Army officer was also listed in the acknowledgements section of the book, where Harry wrote: ‘Love and thanks to friends and colleagues who helped jog my memory or else restored important details lost in the haze of youth.’  

Dyer was reportedly fond of the Prince’s former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and sneaked her out to the ranch where Harry was staying in Argentina during his gap year before starting his Army training at Sandhurst.

He continued his mentoring role even after his time as an official employee of the Prince came to an end.

‘Mark Dyer had been invaluable; he had done a superb job in supporting and guiding both Princes through their adolescence and showing them something of the world – also introducing them to Africa,’ Penny Junor wrote in her biography Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son.

‘The press thought he was a bad influence but he did a bloody good job for them. He had huge integrity, and he was around when they needed advice that didn’t come from their father.’ 

When Harry began wooing Cressida Bonas in 2013, Dyer did his bit to ensure the royal romance ran smoothly. 

While Harry was in Afghanistan, it was reported that he was among the close circle of friends he entrusted with keeping the romance alive.

Meanwhile, Dyer enjoyed a brief romance with ex-royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke before wedding Texan heiress Amanda Kline in 2010. 

Harry was an usher at the ceremony at St Edmund’s Church at Crickhowell, in Powys, Wales. Harry later returned the compliment, asking Dyer to be an usher at his own wedding in 2018.

The Sussexes also asked Dyer to be Archie’s godfather. And Harry, in turn, is godfather to Jasper Dyer, who served as a page boy at his wedding.

In 2009, Dyer founded the management company MDM Bars and Pubs and ran pubs including the Rolling Stones’ favourite The Cross Keys and The Sand’s End, in Fulham, where Harry is said to have conducted his secret courtship with Meghan.

He sold the pubs in 2017 for more than £10million and said he was going to ‘relax’ for a while. Later, he bought the Brook House Pub in Fulham with business partner Eamonn Manson.

In 2022, Dyer was successfully treated after a gruelling battle against stomach cancer and was sent home after six weeks in hospital and 14 hours of surgery.

He was spotted at the wedding of his niece, classical soprano Alicia Lowes when she married long-distance rower Alex Simpson in Monmouthshire.

Speaking of the joy of having her uncle at the ceremony, Alicia told Richard Eden: ‘Last year was hell for Mark, but he’s turned the corner and is cancer-free.’

Dyer is described as one of the few people Harry still trusts in Britain, although whether this would put him in a position to act as a mediator remains to be seen.   

A source previously told the Mail that William respects his father’s decision to ‘keep the door ajar’ for Harry, but that is ‘not an option for him personally for the time being.’