Reunion inspires chance to reconcile
First time together since ’22
Prince Harry has had an emotional reunion with his father the King, the first time he has spent with the monarch since the Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
The Prince made the 10-hour transatlantic dash from his home in Los Angeles to Clarence House in London for the brief meeting, cut short due to the King feeling weary from a hospital procedure the previous day.
While Harry saw his father at his coronation nine months ago the pair had not spent any time together since the Queen’s death.
The short meeting between Charles and his youngest son has raised hopes the pair will be reconciled despite their troubled relationship.
“If you didn’t know what was the matter, you wouldn’t have any idea that he had any condition at all,” a palace source told the British press of the reunion, which he said lasted about 30 minutes. They added both the King and Queen were “coping magnificently”.
After the meeting, the King and Queen retired to Sandringham Estate where the palace said he was expected to spend much of his time recuperating.
As the pair left Clarence House for Buckingham Palace to board a helicopter for the short hop to the Norfolk country estate, the King waved and smiled at well wishers.
It was the first time the King had been seen in public since his cancer diagnosis.
Prior to the public announcement of the discovery of a cancer found during the King’s recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, the King rang Harry with the news. The King then immediately began treatment.
But while the King and his son look to mend their rift, any suggestions about Harry catching up with his brother Prince William were dashed, with the palace confirming “it is not in his diary”.
“The Prince’s main focus is for his wife, who is recovering from surgery, his three children and now his father,” a royal source told the UK’s Mirror.
“There are no plans for Harry’s visit to act as some kind of vehicle for reconciliation.”
Harry’s controversial memoir Spare further damaged his ties with his father and brother, making claims William physically attacked him, the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of the Duchess of Sussex.
In a television interview to promote the book when published last January, the duke revealed the state of his relationship with his 75-year-old father and William, saying he was currently “not texting” his brother and at the time had not spoken to his father for “quite a while”.