Much ado has been made about King Charles’ decision to decline a meeting with Prince Harry while his younger son is in London for the 10-year anniversary celebration of the Invictus Games, which were founded in 2014. Instead of attending the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the King was a few miles away at a garden party, as royal experts say that, had he really wanted to, Charles could have made his busy schedule work to fit in time with Harry.
As with anything, it’s more complicated than it seems, apparently. Marie Claire previously reported that the last time Harry was in the U.K.—back in February, when he flew to London to see his father within hours of the King announcing he had been diagnosed with cancer on February 5—it was Queen Camilla, Harry’s stepmother, who kept the visit so short while at Clarence House. Despite flying approximately 11,000 miles roundtrip from Los Angeles to London and back, Harry only spent about 30 minutes with his father at Charles and Camilla’s home in London, as Charles had just started cancer treatment the day before.
“The Queen was with the King,” royal biographer Robert Jobson said, per The Sun. “Let’s be honest—he [Harry] wasn’t too complimentary about Queen Camilla in his book, Spare. He wasn’t very complimentary about her on Netflix [in his Harry & Meghan docuseries]. They don’t get on.” Jobson added, “Second, there’s not been a lot of contact. That brings its own level of complexity and drama which he [the King] doesn’t need at the moment.” The King “gave him [Harry] long enough for a kiss and a hug and wished him all the best,” Jobson said.
This week marks Harry’s first time back in the U.K. since that quick trip in early February, and royal expert Charlotte Griffiths said on GB News that Charles’ refusal to meet up with Harry was decided after Harry apparently made “certain demands” that couldn’t be met, The Mirror reports. These “difficult” negotiations seem to surround who could be in the room for the father and son meeting—namely Camilla, who Charles wanted in the room but Harry did not. “We know that Charles likes to meet Harry with Camilla in the room, which isn’t always a popular decision,” Griffiths said. “Harry was without his wife as well, so this was fraught with difficulty.” (Meghan Markle isn’t in the U.K. with Harry, but will meet up with him in Nigeria later on.)
Griffiths also suggested on GB News that “other forces” may have driven Charles’ decision about meeting up with Harry, including—you guessed it—Prince William. “William may have had a thought about how this meeting should be conducted or whether it should be conducted at all,” she said.
A source told Russell Myers, royal editor of The Mirror, that when it comes to William and Harry, “Their relationship remains extremely fractured,” they said. “Harry has privately expressed a wish to sit down with his brother, but now is not the time.” It should be noted that this is Harry’s first visit back to his home country since his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, announced publicly on March 22 that she too had been diagnosed with cancer; there are apparently no plans for the two, once so close, to meet.
Earlier today, Harry was leaving an event in Central London and was headed for his car when a waiting cameraman asked him “Are you happy to be home?” Because of all of the above and so much more, it was about as loaded a question as it gets, and Harry’s response is telling: per The Daily Express, he laughed and quickly replied “Nice to see you” before hopping into the back of his black Range Rover.
