Prince Harry’s attempt at extending an olive branch to his father, King Charles III, appears to have not worked out in his favor.
Harry, who returned to the United Kingdom on Wednesday to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Invictus Games he helped create, requested to meet with his father while back home, according to the U.K.’s Mirror.
However, Charles’ four-word response dashed any hopes of a reunion.
The Mirror, citing unidentified sources, reported the king responded he would see Harry “if he was able.”
Given that the king rarely gets to see his son nowadays, his response reads more as a rejection than a condition.
And while Charles might not be keen on a reconciliation at the moment, the same cannot be said for Harry, according to the report.
“Harry has kept in regular contact with his father on several occasions and made no secret of his desire to see him when he can,” a source told the Mirror. “He has been especially concerned about him and hopes the King will be well and able to see him as planned.”
Harry even immediately jumped on a plane and flew to London to visit his father as soon as he heard about Charles’ cancer diagnosis.
He told ABC News that he was grateful for the opportunity.
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“Look, I love my family. The fact I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him? I’m grateful for that,” the Duke of Sussex said.
He also indicated his intent to see his family as much as possible.
“I have got other trips planned that would take me through the U.K. or back to the U.K., so I will stop in and see my family as much as I can,” Harry said.
According to Bronte Coy of Australia’s News.com.au, sources in Harry’s camp indicated that he and his wife, Meghan, were looking toward healing their strained relationship with the king and other members of the British royal family, and even showed interest in resuming some of their royal duties.
However, after Charles’ response, it’s unclear how receptive other members of the royal family have been to the idea.
The British royal family is notoriously tight-lipped, especially regarding matters of internal family conflict, so there’s no real knowing the true state of the relationships between Harry and the other royals.
Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal duties in 2020 and moved to California, where they currently reside.
They also took shots at members of the royal family.
In their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan claimed that a senior member of the royal family had made racially insensitive remarks about the skin color of their then-unborn son.
Harry also attacked both his father and his brother, Prince William, in his 2023 memoir, “Spare.”
So it’s understandable that Charles and other royals might not be eager to welcome him back with open arms.
Regardless of whether any of the accusations that Harry and Meghan hurled at the family are true, the issues should have been dealt with privately, not publicly.
And so Harry is feeling the consequences of his actions.
Just look at the current situation. Charles and his son have lived on different continents for four years. The king is suffering from cancer. They rarely get to see each other. Yet when they were in the same city on the same day, Charles still didn’t seem to want to see Harry.
Hopefully, these relationships are not beyond repair. At the end of the day, the royals are a family, and it’s never good to see a family so at odds with each other.
For now, however, there appears to be no reconciliation on the horizon.
