Prince Harry Can ‘Get Somewhere’ With a King Charles Reconciliation by Slightly Changing Future U.K. Visits, Commentator Says
A royal expert has advice for Prince Harry on making a King Charles III reconciliation happen. Their guidance is, admittedly, simple—visit the U.K. as a family. As in, with Meghan Markle and their two children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3. Why the expert thinks it’d be a good step toward reconciling ahead.
Harry and King Charles can make progress when U.K. Sussex family trips aren’t ‘such big news’
Royal expert Robert Hardman said at the U.K.’s Hay Festival that making more family trips to the U.K. is a start for Harry to patch things up with King Charles (via Express).
According to Hardman, bringing Meghan, Archie, and Lilibet to England would be a first step toward reconciling and a way to “normalise” [sic] the relationship with the king.
“Once that happens, it’s not such big news when it happens again,” he explained. “Then you start to get somewhere.”
The expert went on to say Harry’s February 2024 visit to London, England, following the king’s cancer diagnosis proved very “telling.” (Harry reportedly spent less than an hour with his father.)
“I mean, there is so much to be worked through,” he said. “But this was absolutely not the moment to have some sort of summit with Harry about all of Harry’s grievances.”
Harry returned to the U.K. in May 2024 to mark 10 years of the Invictus Games. After much speculation surrounding a potential father-son meeting, Harry released a statement saying the two wouldn’t sit down together, citing the king’s busy schedule.
Nor did King Charles, or any other royals, attend the anniversary service alongside Harry. Instead, two of Princess Diana’s siblings were there, along with other family friends.
Trust remains a big issue between Harry, Charles, and the royal family
There’s a lot to work through if Harry’s ever going to be on good, or at least cordial, terms with his royal relatives. One of them, according to Hardman, is trust.
He claimed senior royals, such as the 39-year-old’s brother, Prince William, are still “very wounded” by Harry’s bombshell claims in Spare.
For instance, Harry painted the picture of a competitive sibling dynamic tinged with jealousy. Elsewhere, he made disparaging remarks about William’s wife, Kate Middleton, the king, and the royal family as a whole.
Hardman went on to say the royal family’s pain isn’t so much about Harry’s barbs. Rather, it stems from giving “away so many secrets.” Another sore point? That Harry seemed to be “taking notes” when Queen Elizabeth II died.
Harry and Meghan haven’t made a family visit to the U.K. since 2022
It’s been quite some time since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled across the pond, err, Atlantic Ocean, with Archie and Lili in tow. Two years to be exact. The family of four visited England in June 2022 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.
Harry and Meghan attended one official Platinum Jubilee event, a special thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral honoring the queen. They also made a low-key appearance at Trooping the Colour, watching from a nearby building with fellow royals.
The rest of the time, the couple stayed close to Frogmore Cottage, their former U.K. home near Windsor Castle. Harry and Meghan also hosted a small birthday party for Lili, who turned 1 during the trip.
The pair returned three months later when Queen Elizabeth died. Meanwhile, Archie and Lili stayed behind in California.
In the years since, Harry’s made only solo visits to the U.K., apart from Meghan meeting him at London’s Heathrow Airport on their way to Nigeria in May 2024.
