Has the time for reconciliation come? Prince Harry and his father King Charles III met in London on Wednesday for a brief but unprecedented meeting in more than a year and a half.
The king’s youngest son, who has broken away from his family since leaving for the United States in 2020 with his wife Meghan, joined his father at his London residence at Clarence House late in the afternoon. Charles and the Duke of Sussex shared tea privately, according to the royal entourage. Contacted by AFP, the palace did not immediately confirm.
No interview since February 2024
The prince arrived in a black car around 5:20 p.m. (4:20 p.m. GMT) then left a little less than an hour later, noted an AFP journalist. Charles III, who was staying in Scotland, was seen by British media leaving a military base near London, where he landed early Wednesday afternoon.
Before speaking with his son, he chaired his private council in London and met a Holocaust survivor. He must return to Balmoral Castle, his Scottish residence, on Thursday. The two men have not seen each other since February 2024, when Harry made an express trip to the United Kingdom after learning that his father, aged 76, was suffering from cancer, for which he is still being treated.
At the time, their meeting, also at Clarence House, had lasted less than three-quarters of an hour and Harry had left for California the next day. He has since returned to London three times, without his wife Meghan, much criticized in the United Kingdom, nor their children, Archie and Lilibet, and without meeting the royal family.
Harry wants reconciliation
Harry arrived in the UK on Monday for a series of engagements with charities he supports. He also visited the grave of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, three years to the day after her death, on September 8, 2022.
Before meeting his father, he had visited a research center dedicated to those injured in explosions at Imperial College London. The prince, aged 40, told the BBC in May that he “would very much like to reconcile with (his) family”. “I don’t know how much time my father has left,” added the younger brother of William, the heir to the crown.
Since giving up his royal duties and moving to California in 2020 with his wife Meghan, Harry has publicly attacked the royal family on several occasions.
Numerous criticisms against his family
In March 2021, he gave an explosive interview to American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, insinuating that some members of the royal family were racist.
After a docuseries on Netflix in December 2022, in which he further scratched “the firm” – the nickname of the royal family – he published his memoirs, “The Substitute”, in early 2023, criticizing his brother William, his sister-in-law Kate and even his mother-in-law Camilla.
Despite his departure, he has not cut ties with the United Kingdom, where he is leading a legal crusade, with so far mixed success, against the British tabloids. He also lost another legal battle to obtain police protection similar to that he had when he was a working member of the royal family.
