Can Charles and Harry reconcile as it's claimed they've had 'some communications'?
While the King was in the US, he did not see Harry - but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some communications, says royal author Duncan Larcombe
It was a state banquet fit for a king and the great and the good of American high society. Donald Trump was determined to show King Charles that the special relationship between the UK and USA was alive and kicking.
The guest list included golfer Rory McIlroy, Apple boss Tim Cook and the billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as well as several of Trump’s own family. What was the highlight of Charles and Camilla’s four-day visit to the United States only showed, in my opinion, once again the chasm that exists between the monarch and his second son.
Of course Trump has his own beef with the Sussexes and has mocked them on more than one occasion. But that would all be overlooked if the King was determined to see Harry during his journey across the Atlantic.
Harry and Meghan appear to remain on the outside
If some of the ice between father and son had thawed, Harry would surely have been warmly embraced by the event’s organisers. Away from the pomp and ceremony of the White House dinner, it would have once been unthinkable that His Majesty would visit America without making the effort to at least see his son privately.
After all, Charles has reportedly not seen Harry’s children Archie and Lilibet since the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
When Harry was growing up he was close to his father, famously joining him on a visit to South Africa in the wake of Diana’s tragic death.
What this latest failure to meet tells us is that the duke and duchess appear to remain on the outside as far as the Royal Family is concerned. I imagine that Charles feels he cannot bring his son back into the fold as things currently stand.
The King is keen to start the process of making things right with Harry
For his part, Harry seems to want to be seen as someone who has shrugged off the need to be endorsed by his family and continues to act like a royal without a portfolio.
His visits this year to Jordan, Australia and Ukraine were a sign he has no intention of obeying the late Queen’s insistence that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could not be half in, half out of the family. 'I will always be part of the Royal Family, and I’m here working and doing the very thing that I was born to do,' he said.
But is there any glimmer of hope things might change in the long term?
Palace sources are gloomy when it comes to Harry’s chances of being brought in from the cold. However, one source did reveal the King has made efforts behind the scenes to ease the distrust between father and son.
They said, 'Harry may have only had a brief face to face with His Majesty last year but there remains some kind of contact. This is not a healing of the relationship but the King is keen to try to find a way to start the long slow process of making things right with Harry.'
Charles, I’m sure, knows how damaging it is for the rift between Harry and in particular his brother William to linger on unresolved.
I am told that Charles and Harry have been in contact since last September’s brief encounter and there were even private talks about the prospect of Charles meeting Harry in private, away from the media spotlight, while he was in America.
A secret meeting would have been an ideal opportunity to move things forward. But that was always going to be tricky - it would have been a huge distraction and sadly a mile away from where their relationship is currently.
Glimmer of hope
The communications between father and son have been strictly confidential but they may at least give Charles some glimmer of hope.
The source added, ‘The King sees the breakdown in relations between the Sussexes and the Prince and Princess of Wales as one of the most distressing aspects of his short reign. And what father wants to be estranged from his own son?’
As Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the monarch is aware of the importance of forgiveness, and the optics of the ‘Megxit’ situation do not look good.
But for now - as their official visit to the States has demonstrated - the King and Queen are a long way from finding a breakthrough to heal the rift that has blighted the Royal Family for far too long.
This feature first appeared in Woman magazine. Subscribe now and get your first 6 issues for £1.
