King Charles and Prince Harry’s Relationship Is Reportedly ‘Thawing’ Amid Cancer Diagnosis
Things might be on their way to “thawing” out between King Charles III and Prince Harry. A royal expert says the door is “open” for the father and son to reconcile as the Duke of Sussex traveled to the U.K. to see the king following the 75-year-old’s cancer diagnosis.
Harry left England on Feb. 7 after visiting his father, King Charles
It was a quick trip to the U.K. for Harry after Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis. Harry left his and Meghan Markle’s Montecito, California, home on Feb. 5, 2024, hours after the statement went public, touching down at Heathrow Airport the following day.
Harry reportedly didn’t waste any time, going from the airport directly to the king’s longtime London, England, home of Clarence House on Feb. 6, 2024.
He’s believed to have spent less than an hour — reports said approximately 45 minutes — talking with his father — before leaving. Harry reportedly spent the night in a luxury hotel, not having his own U.K. residence.
On Feb. 7, 2024, cameras spotted Harry back at Heathrow Airport, returning home to California ahead of an upcoming appearance to mark the one-year countdown to the 2025 Invictus Games in Canada.
The king’s cancer diagnosis appears to be a major turning point in his relationship with Harry
“I certainly think we’re seeing a real thawing in the relations between Charles and his son,” Katie Nicholl, a royal expert and author, told Entertainment Tonight. “I know, for Charles, the door has always been left open regardless of some of the things Harry has written.”
Nicholl continued, saying no matter what’s happened — Spare, Harry & Meghan, the 2021 Oprah interview — King Charles’s love for Harry remains.
“I was told by a source very close to the king that whatever Harry has said or done, he loves his son,” she said.
The author of The New Royals also suggested learning of his dad’s cancer diagnosis may have Harry rethinking the ongoing rift.
“I think when someone has a serious health scare like this,” she explained. “It does make you reassess things. And I think that’s why Harry got on the first flight he could.”
Meanwhile, another royal expert called the king’s cancer diagnosis a “blessing in disguise” as it may finally bring Harry and King Charles together.
Charles ‘desperately wants to reconcile with Harry’
Nicholl also told the outlet King Charles is ready to move on with Harry in his life.
“[King Charles] desperately wants to reconcile with Harry,” she said. Plus bond with his grandchildren, Harry and Meghan’s two kids: Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2.
Furthermore, the gesture of Harry traveling to the U.K. to visit wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by his father. “The king would have been hugely relieved and comforted by the fact that Harry flew over,” Nicholl said.
“However brief that meeting may have been, I think it’s absolutely fundamental and important and healing the rift between father and son.”
As for Harry and his brother, Prince William, their relationship appears hard to “patch up.”
