Prince Harry set for UK visit

For five years there has been anger, upset and a deep family divide at the heart of the Royal Family. The rift between King Charles III and the Duke of Sussex has been painful for all involved and played out in public. A resolution has been hard to find. But there are signs tensions are easing and a new understanding between father and son could be within reach.

Prince Harry returns to the UK in just under two weeks’ time. He was last here in April for a court hearing about security. Back then, his father was in Italy on a state visit, so the possibility of a meeting was off the table.

Things are different this time. Not significantly different, but if we follow the evidence there are signs of a slight shift in mood.

For starters, the King will be in the UK. He will be in Scotland at his Balmoral Estate. Harry could go to Scotland but we know the King is regularly travelling south for cancer treatment and some royal engagements, leaving open the chance of seeing his son in person.

The last time that happened was 6 February 2024, immediately after the King went public with his diagnosis. It was a flying visit – quite literally.

The Duke of Sussex landed at Heathrow and was driven straight to Clarence House. He saw his father for little more than half an hour before flying home to the US the following morning.

Then there is the approach of the team now representing Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in both the UK and the US.

In July, LA-based Meredith Maines, who heads up the communications team around Harry and Meghan, flew to London to visit a number of charities and media organisations, including BBC News, with her UK counterpart, Liam Maguire.

But it wasn’t these meetings that were the eye-catching development. A photographer pictured them at a private members’ club with Tobyn Andreae, the King’s communication secretary. The images were published in the Mail on Sunday under the headline “The secret Harry peace summit”.

Exactly how the photographer came to be in place remains a mystery, with both sides denying they tipped him off. A meeting like this would have seemed unthinkable a couple of years ago. The fact they could all sit around a table and discuss the position they all find themselves in suggests that both would like things to be different.

And then there is the end of the court case over Home Office-provided security when Harry is in the UK – a case he lost.

The legal proceedings were deeply troubling for Buckingham Palace, which viewed it as the King’s son suing the King’s government through the King’s courts.

While it played out, father and son did not speak to one another. But Harry, 40, did speak to BBC News in May for an exclusive interview with reporter Nada Tawfik.

“I would love a reconciliation with my family,” he said. “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.”

For some, those words were clumsy and sounded harsh regarding his father’s health, especially as the King, 76, has continued with a full diary of events during his cancer treatment and has spoken of being energised by his public duties.

It all adds up to a slight shift in mood around the possibility and willingness for a reconciliation, despite the recent history of rancour and distrust.

The sense of life being short has also come up before.

In Harry’s bestselling memoir, Spare, a book that has done much to fuel the family upset, the duke recalls an exchange with his father and brother after the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, then the Duke of Edinburgh.

The tetchy chat, Harry writes, ended with an intervention from his father. “He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces: Please boys – don’t make my final years a misery.”

They were words spoken before any cancer diagnosis, before his father was King, from a man in his 70s trying to find a way through a family fallout.

These are Harry’s memories of the situation and as we know, “recollections may vary”.

Trust remains a significant sticking point. Buckingham Palace will want assurances that the detail of any family meeting remains private. Speaking to both sides this week, there is something of a unified position to say absolutely nothing in public about the possibility of a meeting between father and son.

Buckingham Palace has continued with its longstanding position of not getting into personal details of the relationship between the King and his youngest son. Harry and Meghan’s team are adopting the same approach. There is nothing to be shared officially.

But is the joint silence a sign that, after the years of public outpourings this next phase, perhaps one of reconciliation, will happen away from the cameras, without a fanfare?

We will first see Harry back in London on 8 September when he attends the WellChild awards ceremony. He has been patron of the charity which supports seriously ill children and their families for 17 years.

“I am always privileged to attend the WellChild Awards and meet the incredible children, families and professionals who inspire us all with their strength and spirit,” he said announcing his return to the UK. “Their stories remind us of the power of compassion, connection and community.”

It will be the start of several days of engagements for Harry, in which he will reinforce his connection to the UK and the organisations he supports here. Even with the move to America, he has remained a cheerleader for a number of charities.

In May, he made a “significant personal donation” to a charity in Nottingham to fund food parcels for vulnerable families. On Remembrance Sunday, Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity supporting children who have lost a parent in the military, received sweets from Harry for all the young people joining the military march past.

His link to the UK remains strong. The anguish and division on both sides has been deeply felt and that big question of trust will need to be overcome.

As senior royal correspondent, I’ve watched the various episodes of this public conflict play out since 2020.

The chasm between Harry and his brother William remains wide. The prospect of a sibling reconciliation is not on the cards at this stage. It is understood they do not talk to each other and the hurt runs deep on both sides. Positions are entrenched, they are fiercely protective of their wives and families and rebuilding that brotherly bond and trust feels a long way off.

But it is different with the King.

Harry’s visit to the UK next month feels like the best chance in some time for the relationship between father and son to find a peace that has been missing for several years.

As Prince Harry said in his BBC interview: “There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore… life is precious.”

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