Damn! Prince Harry‘s team just confirmed that his father King Charles III isn’t making time to see him during his rare visit to the United Kingdom! Ouch!
The Duke of Sussex arrived in London on Tuesday ahead of the tenth anniversary celebrations for the Invictus Games on Wednesday (without Meghan Markle, who chose to stay home in Cali). There’s been lots of talk about whether or not the estranged father and son would meet up during his travels, with previous sources hinting that the monarch would likely be snubbing the Spare author. And now we know that’s indeed true!
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A spokesperson for the Archewell founder actually addressed the speculation in a statement to Page Six on Tuesday, sharing:
“In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program.”
Seriously?! He doesn’t have ANY time? That’s crazy! Their super brief visit back in February, after Charles’ cancer diagnosis, must’ve been very s**tty if the 75-year-old isn’t making even the tiniest effort to connect with his son this time! But staying cordial, the rep simply continued:
“The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
Several insiders had claimed Harry invited his family members to the milestone event as an olive branch — and yet Charles, Prince Willian, Princess Catherine, and no other senior members of the royal family are expected to attend. Whoa. They’re all shutting him out. We suppose this is no surprise considering tensions are still high, but with Charles and Catherine both facing cancer treatment, we would’ve hoped to see some reconciliation! Especially since it sounds like Harry has been pushing for one!
Other sources told the outlet that the 39-year-old has been trying to organize a meet-up for OVER A MONTH! So, Charles’ busy schedule was totally on purpose! Jeez! Hugo Vickers, a royal historian and friend of the royal family, also noted that His Majesty could “easily” find time for his youngest if he wanted to do so!! Vickers said:
“If the king wanted to see Harry, he would find time very easily. You can never be too busy to see your son. It’s a good idea if they do meet to forge some kind of reconciliation.”
Charles wouldn’t even necessarily need to rearrange his plans, either. He could simply have breakfast with Harry, Vickers pointed out, before heading off to his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and attending the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the season. Discussing talks of a future reconciliation, a royal source shared:
“The king has left the door wide open but obviously not that wide. But they absolutely can stuff things in his diary and juggle things around.”
And yet he’s not! So, that proves that Charles is not willing to reconcile. Brutal considering his health conditions! As for why he might be going the extra mile to avoid Harry, a senior royal insider suggested February’s visit was a big problem:
“We don’t know how that meeting went, but I do know that the king was exhausted from chemotherapy and really keen to get off to Balmoral. He was desperate to be on his way and was delayed until Harry turned up.”
We get that there is a TON of bad blood between these two, but to be that annoyed when your son wanted to see you after news of a scary, life-threatening illness is wild! Just saying!
As for why the Prince of Wales rejected the invite, a confidant explained:
“William is a hop, skip and a jump from the throne, with an ill wife and three young children — he has plenty on his plate.”
It’s a lot easier to understand William’s refusal to connect than Charles, TBH! Obviously, Harry brought a lot of this feud on himself and all that. But it is still rough to see his relatives hold such a grudge when he’s trying to fix things!
Thoughts? Do you think it’s super shady of Charles to snub Harry or is it totally fine considering their messy history? Share your hot takes (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN]