Prince Harry met with his father King Charles for the first time in 19 months on Wednesday. This marked the first time that they saw one another since Harry last traveled to see his father in February of 2024.
Prince Harry Meets With King Charles
Harry, 40, was seen arriving at Clarence House, which is the King’s residence in London, at around 5:20 p.m. local time.
Harry spent around 55 minutes inside before he left again to attend an Invictus Games event at The Gherkin, London. According to Daily Mail, Harry was 40 minutes late to this event. There, when Harry was asked how his father was doing, he smiled and simply replied, “Yes he’s great, thank you.”
Charles had arrived at Clarence House around 4pm. He had landed at RAF Northolt at around 3pm after flying in from Aberdeen Airport in Scotland. There, the King met with Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, where he was invested with an MBE. Prior to that, the King had been staying at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.
Buckingham Palace confirmed to People Magazine that the King had met with Harry. The palace would only say that the father and son enjoyed a private tea, adding that no further details would be given. A spokesperson for Harry said the same thing.
Harry’s Rare U.K. Visit
This was day three of a rare four-day trip to his native United Kingdom for Harry. After arriving in England on Monday, Harry attended the WellChild Awards at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel. This event was held to celebrate the achievements of seriously ill youngsters.
On Tuesday, Harry travelled by car to Nottingham yesterday. Once he arrived, he visited the Community Recording Studio. Harry also announced a £1.1million personal donation to the BBC’s Children In Need.
Before meeting his father, Harry appeared to be in good spirits when he arrived at the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in White City at around 1pm on Wednesday. Harry opened this facility in 2013.
When he arrived the centre, Harry was warmly greeted by the former Army captain David Henson, an ex-Royal Engineer who served as Team GB captain for the inaugural Invictus Games.
Henson lost both of his legs after standing on an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan in 2011. Harry and Henson have become close personal friends. Henson even attended Harry’s 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.
When Harry left the centre, he snapped some selfies with fans before quickly excusing himself.
“I have to go, I’m so late,” Harry said. “I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go. Nice to meet you guys.”
Harry Claims To Want Royal ‘Reconciliation’
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals back in 2020. They then moved across the world to Southern California, where Meghan was born and raised.
In the years since then, Harry and Meghan have bashed the royal family seemingly every chance they’ve gotten in books, interviews, and docuseries. This has led to Harry becoming estranged from much of the royal family, including his older brother Prince William, 43.
Despite everything that he’s said and done, Harry has claimed that he wants to reconcile with the royals.
“I would love reconciliation with my family,” Harry told the BBC back in May. “There’s no point continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
This was seemingly a reference to the unspecified form of cancer that Charles has been battling for over a year.
While today’s meeting with the King might be a small victory for Harry, it’s going to take a lot more than that for the rest of the royal family to forgive him. Only time will tell if Harry ever gets the royal reconciliation he claims to be craving!