The Duke of Sussex is on a solo trip back to London for a brief four-day visit – but questions remain as to whether his family will see him before he returns to California
Prince Harry has landed in the UK for a four-day visit – but the question on everyone’s lips is whether he will reunite with his father, the King.
The Duke has made it clear in recent months that he would like a reconciliation with his family, but royal sources warn it might not be so easy to paper over the cracks.
The rift between the Sussexes and the Royal Family has been deepening ever since Harry and his wife Meghan Markle self-exiled and moved to the US. The explosive sit-down interviews, Netflix shows and memoir that followed only dampened relations further as Harry made numerous swipes against his family.
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Most recently, the Duke claimed that his father Charles is refusing to speak to him amid a bitter court battle over the degree of police security Harry and his family are entitled to while visiting the UK. Harry shocked royal circles when he publicly questioned how long his father has left to live in a candid interview just after he lost the case.
Harry and Charles have not seen each other since last February when the Duke flew back to his home country following the announcement of the King’s cancer diagnosis.
It remains to be seen whether father and son will reunite during Harry’s return to the UK this week, but a key area of concern for the royals is said to be trust.
The Prince has been accused of betraying his family by writing a scathing book about his experience of royal life, with fears that whatever Harry is told, ends up being leaked to the media.
This was reportedly the key reason that the Duke was not informed of King Charles cancer diagnosis in advance – instead, he is believed to have found out at the same time as the rest of the world, in an announcement from the Palace in February last year. The shock announcement is likely to have been a huge blow for the Duke.
Harry promptly flew to London to see his father after the news broke – but the pair met for just half an hour.
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Charles is currently at Birkhall, his Scottish residence, and will remain there until at least tomorrow, as he privately marks the third anniversary of his mother’s death. He does have a number of private audiences and meetings this week, which could, potentially, bring him back to the capital.
Harry is set to attend the WellChild Awards in London on Monday to show his support for the charity which supports young people affected by terminal and serious illness and their families. He has been its patron for 17 years, and will present an award.
On Tuesday, he will visit the Community Recording Studio in Nottingham. His team says he will use the visit to announce a ‘substantial donation’ to charity Children in Need to support its work tackling violence impacting young people.
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Harry has engagements on Wednesday and Thursday with other charities he is involved in, including the Invictus Games and the Diana Award.
A source told the Mail Online: “His visit is four days long and focusing purely on the patronages. [He is] keeping it positive, no courtrooms, just doing the stuff he loved to do and, hopefully, helping some of those causes closest to his heart.”
It is highly unlikely that Harry will see his brother Prince William during his visit. The future King is said to have no interest in a reconciliation, and has official engagements on every day of Harry’s stay.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Monday, The Sunday Times’ royal editor Roya Nikkhah was asked about Harry’s potential reunion with Charles.
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She said: “No one knows apart from the King, Harry and his private secretary. As from what I understand, it’s still very up in the air.
“If it does happen, I think it’ll happen midweek when the King comes down from Balmoral. It’s never that simple. Father and son want to see each other but Harry has said so many things in the last two years that has been hurtful to the King, to the Queen, to William, to Kate. There’s so much mistrust. Can a meeting like that happen and Harry not talk about it after? That’s the key question.”
Host Susanna Reid then asked what the most hurtful things Harry had said, and Roya said she believes it was what Harry said in Spare about Queen Camilla being “dangerous”.
Source: Mirror
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